| 75 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Cage and Leoni make it offbeat.
|
| 75 |
New York Daily News
Cage is a wonderful light comedian; were someone to remake "It's a Wonderful Life," he'd be on the short list for the role of George Bailey. And Leoni is Donna Reed, reborn.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Cage gives a performance that invites audiences to lay cynicism aside in a romantic fable.
|
| 70 |
TV Guide
A surprisingly charming fable.
|
| 70 |
Mr. Showbiz
A warm, glossy holiday fable that hits some surprisingly sweet notes.
|
| 63 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Sweet, light entertainment, but could have been more.
|
| 63 |
Charlotte Observer
A holiday fable that's not destined for immortality but goes down more easily than most of the pap Hollywood tries to feed us every Christmas.
|
| 63 |
USA Today
Despite solid acting, it's a fantasy for those who don't know jack about what really makes for a wonderful life.
|
| 60 |
Newsweek
What charm, quirkiness and warmth the movie possesses is due largely to them (Cage and Leoni).
|
| 58 |
Entertainment Weekly
Schlock weeper.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
I didn't believe it, and I don't think the people who made The Family Man did either.
|
| 50 |
New York Post
Beyond the cliched diaper-changing scenes and the oh-so-predictable romantic complications, the film inadvertently insults its presumed target audience.
|
| 50 |
Portland Oregonian
You can't just rework a beloved Christmas classic, set it in reverse and expect it to run smoothly.
|
| 50 |
Time
A film that's fun to argue with.
|
| 50 |
LA Weekly
Has the airiness of a well-made souffle, springing delicate small surprises at calibrated intervals.
|
| 50 |
Miami Herald
Sidesteps from the premise of "It's a Wonderful Life" far enough to avoid copyright charges, but not far enough to avoid unfavorable comparisons
|
| 40 |
Austin Chronicle
A holiday film Joe Lieberman could love, unembarrassed by its wholesome, sugary pro-family message.
|
| 40 |
Village Voice
It's an easier movie to tolerate than it should be if, like me, you're in love with Téa Leoni, who, as a lithe, lusty, strangely patient firecracker Superwife in a shag, rescues the movie from the tar pit of irrelevance. With some decent lines, she could be the new Myrna Loy.
|
| 40 |
Salon.com
But in the end conventional sentiment, rather than any actual morality, is all that the script for The Family Man (by David Diamond and David Weissman) has to offer.
|
| 40 |
Dallas Observer
It's a plot more worn out than the tinsel boxed up in the attic. In the end, they've given us a Christmas gift barely worth returning.
|
| 40 |
Rolling Stone
Starting to feel sick? Just you wait.
|
| 40 |
Variety
A slickly produced slice of sentimental hokum that borrows freely from a half-dozen or so other, better feel-good fantasies.
|
| 40 |
Los Angeles Times
Not even a sincere and heroic effort by Nicolas Cage can redeem the film's essential phoniness.
|
| 38 |
Boston Globe
Sitting through it is like waking up on Christmas morning to find a stockingful of styrofoam.
|
| 30 |
The New York Times
A piece of moldy wax fruit if ever there was one.
|
| 20 |
Washington Post
Nothing more, or less, than a cheap, dirty grab at our Christmas spirit.
|
| 20 |
Chicago Reader
At first I thought I was watching yet another version of "A Christmas Carol"; then I wondered if it was a remake of "It's a Wonderful Life"; finally I gave up trying to find anything at all in it that was unfamiliar.
|
| 0 |
Film.com
David D'Arcy
What were they thinking?
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