I figured that “The Family Man” would be a cheesy combination of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Carol.” It was, but there was a little more to it than that. It also had aspects of “Sliding Doors” and “Sleepless in Seattle” in it as well. I really didn’t have any particular love for any of these films, so I really shouldn’t have liked “The Family Man.” I’m a pretty straight-forward “Die Hard” or “Blazing Saddles” kind of guy, and this lacked the horse-punching comedic value of the Mel Brooks classic and fell far short of the guy-falling-off-high-building value of the Bruce Willis “stuff blowing up” movie.But I really liked “The Family Man.”The movie is the story of Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage), a high-ranking banker on Wall Street. It opens with Campbell talking to his girlfriend, Kate (Tea Leoni), in Kennedy Airport in New York. Kate tries to persuade Campbell to stay, foregoing an internship opportunity in London to stay with her. He gets on the plane and ends up a fabulous financial success, but totally alone.On Christmas Eve 13 years later, Campbell receives a phone call from Kate, but elects not to call her back.As he leaves the office, he stops by a convenience store to pick up a $5-quart of eggnog. Yes, kids, a quart of eggnog can cost five bucks in Manhattan. Campbell intervenes in a dispute between a customer and the store’s clerk and therefore wins a “glimpse” at what his life could have been if he had stayed with Kate. Campbell goes to bed as an incredibly wealthy bachelor in a midtown Manhattan penthouse and wakes up as a middle-class father of two in Teaneck, NJ. His glimpse at family life lasts for most of the movie and is quite well done. His spunky four-year-old daughter provides him a basic outline of his duties and then Campbell improvises as best he can.As a child who grew up in a middle-class family about 10 minutes from Teaneck, this movie probably held a little more nostalgia for me than it would for the typical Ross County resident, but kids from Ohio and the Midwest should find the film quite enjoyable, nonetheless.Watching Campbell move from an environment where personal lives are so secondary to work, to one where family life is all there is presents some comedic moments.The movie takes advantage of an infant to make the predictable “diaper-change water fountain” joke, but otherwise is pretty solid in its use of comedy. Jeremy Piven is at his “PCU” finest as Jack’s slimy best friend in Teaneck.Honestly, there was very little in this movie that I should have really enjoyed, but for some reason, I left the theater thoroughly entertained. It’s aimed primarily at people in their 30s and 40s, but there’s a message in there for college-aged people too. Make your choices carefully, because you might not ever get another chance at happiness.Guys will like this movie because Leoni is extremely attractive. Girls will like this movie because it, theoretically, should make guys want to “nest.”It is certainly the best “date movie” I’ve seen in quite a while, so check out “The Family Man” or you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering what your life would be like if you had.