2000 - Rated PG-13 - 2 hr 5 min
Director: Brett Ratner
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Tea Leoni, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Piven, Saul Rubinek
At least in this movie, Nicolas Cage is the good guy. Well, most of the time. He's a real jerk in the beginning, but he comes around. And the transition is well managed, not forced or unbelievable.
The premise is like a backwards It's a Wonderful Life or a version of that parallel universe movie Sliding Doors (I kinda wish we had that one, actually). Nic Cage left behind his college sweetheart to pursue his big time career as a broker. A chance encounter with Don Cheadle earns him a "glimpse" at the alternate reality, where he stayed with the college sweetheart and started a family. Gone are his power and success, gone are his life's luxuries, and gone is his freedom (and whorish lifestyle). SPOLER ALERT...
But he soon starts to see that life with a wife and kids, living in a suburb, and working a retail job aren't so bad. He's still in love with Tea Leoni, he learns. And his kids are pretty adorable, too. The sad thing is that it's just a "glimpse" and he has to leave, has to return to the real reality where he left this option for his career.
The ending is a bit disappointing. Yes, it would be super Hollywood of them to let him stay in the new reality. And yes, the ending they did go with leaves a nice fill-in-the-blank for you. Do they get married and have those kids? Probably not, since the odds are against them. I do feel bad for him that he has to leave those kids behind after growing to truly love them. I got really hung up on that and so the movie left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Those poor unborn kids... Maybe I'm too worried about this movie.
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