The Family Man

In town they had an offer on DVDs - two for �20. I caved and bought... no, not two. Four.

We've just watched The Family Man and my verdict is: Good.

Not wonderful, not amazing, but definitely worth my while and I'm sure I'll put it on again one day. Some oddness to it, though (watch out, spoilers ahead). It's basically one of those "If only it had all been different" movies. A guy gets a chance to see what could have been if he'd made a go of it with his college sweetheart.

Apparantly, what could have been is suburban life complete with kids, a people mover and a slobbering dog. But it's all good. Against all odds the wife demonstrates extreme paitence and the kid manages to pull off the "You're an alien" suspicions without being too cloying.

And at the end it's "all a dream" or something close. Which bothers me. The movie sets up this whole scenario that could have been, complete with other characters. And at the end it's all gone. There are unresolved threads - the main character, Jack, show interest in an affair with his neighbour. Yet his neighbour never questions that he doesn't appear. We get to know a whole bunch of characters including the kids and then suddenly, well, what? They don't exist any more? Or they never existed? Jack never learns to be less selfish and goal oriented and quit chasing the being-rich dream but his wife puts up with it all, along with his bizarre mood swings, disappearences and failing memory. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, it doesn't seem that Jack learns the lessons he's supposed to. And yet it's a happy ever after ending.

Well "Hmm," is all I can say. Hmm and double hmm.

But not a waste of an evening or a tenner.