Way Back Wednesday

Nelson: As posted on Facebook couple of days ago, we have "Year One" but we will probably not get to that until tomorrow or Friday. So I thought maybe I'd suggest a movie we both liked but saw some time ago. If you haven't seen "Family Man" you have missed a great, underappreciated movie. It is like a modern day "It's a Wonderful Life" where Nicholas Cage's character gets a "glimpse" of how his life may have been different if he had made a different choice in his past. We watch this movie a couple of times a year, and yes we own it. We'll get "Year One" done shortly. Thanks.

Pam: Not really looking forward to Year One. I'll probably laugh at Jack Black, though, because I'll be thinking about how funny he was in School of Rock, one of our family favorites. Michael Cera's schtick gets a little old pretty quick, but I don't know, maybe it'll play off Jack Black's outrageousness - who knows? Anyway, as for Nelson's Way Back Wednesday pick, I'll have to agree, it's definitely one to own. I can identify with Tea Leoni's character in both worlds - the real one, and the "glimpsed" one. In the real world, she's a dynamic, independent business woman with a lot on her plate and loving it with no need for a male counterpart in her life. Makes me wonder sometimes what my life would have been like had I not gotten married and had children - would I have been that successful or happy? Doubt it. In the "glimpse," she's got two small kids, lives in the suburbs, works as a non-profit lawyer, sometimes cleans the house and eats large pieces of chocolate cake at 10:00 p.m. while trying to balance the checkbook. I can relate! I've always liked Nick Cage, even in his bad movies, but in this one he's particularly engaging as a crass unemotional corporate shark who doesn't even realize there's anything missing in his life until he gets a "glimpse" of what things might have been like if he hadn't left his old girlfriend standing in that airport all alone. A really good one to watch around Christmas.