I like to post comments and notes regarding the movies we see. I’m about twenty movies behind and I have no hope of catching up. However, a few are worth a mention, which I will do over several posts.
Around Christmas time we had a whole living-room full of folks watch It’s a Wonderful Life. This is such a classic film I need say little about it. It’s one of the great ‘feel-good’ movies with classic characters played by classic actors. It was such a delight for us to introduce this film to a whole new generation of movie watchers.
We have always said that the Nicolas Cage movie The Family Man is It’s a Wonderful Life played backwards. Whereas in It’s a Wonderful Life a character is challenged to appreciate the life he has, The Family Man challenges a man with a vision of the good life he missed. Both are Christmas movies, both involve angel characters and imagined realities, and both are worth watching.
In The Family Man, Cage is considering pursuing an adulterous fling. His buddy challenges him to faithfulness with a great line:
“A little flirtation is harmless but you’re dealing with fire here. The fidelity bank and trust is a tough creditor. You make a deposit somewhere else, they close your account – FOREVER.”
Michael Medved, a great fan of The Family Man, did suggest that it is quite unbelievable that someone would wake up in bed with Tea Leoni and run! But so it goes.