EFL Movie Study Guide for:
The Family Man
Description:
I like to show this film to college seniors who think that a good salary is
the main thing to look for in a job. Jack is a rich, successful stock
broker. One Christmas Eve he gets a glimpse of what his life would have been
like if he had made different choices. What did he give up by not marrying
his college girlfriend and raising a family? This movie will give you a lot
to think about! (Universal Pictures; starring Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni;
romance, comedy; about two hours)
Setting: New York City and a nearby New
Jersey suburb
Important Characters:
Jack Campbell (Nicholas Cage) – a single,
successful businessman who runs a large NY financial firm
Kate Reynolds (Tea Leoni) – in the opening scene: a young
law student and Jack’s girlfriend (later we see that Kate is a single,
successful lawyer)
Peter Lassiter—owns Jack’s financial firm
Alan Mintz—works for Jack (and later, he has
taken Jack’s leadership job)
“Big Ed” –Kate’s father; owns a tire retail
store
Arnie—Jack’s best friend (during the middle of
the movie)
a black man who has no name, but who has
supernatural powers and acts sort of like an angel
A few terms
(vocabulary):
Wall Street—the financial capital of the USA
a stock broker—someone who buys and sells
stock for others, earning a percentage of the cost as his fee (EF Hutton is
a famous financial firm)
internship—the last step of professional
training after you finish college; a company (like Barclay’s Bank in London)
agrees to train you for a year, while paying you a bit less than you would
earn later. The right internship can make a big difference in one’s career.
stock trader—a person or company that makes
money by buying and selling stock, and sometimes by convincing corporations
to merge
merger—(e.g., Med Tech & Global); when two
companies combine to become one bigger company; some mergers are “hostile,”
i.e. one of the companies does not want to become part of the other
glimpse—a short experience of sth that helps
you to begin to understand it
suburb—a place around the outside of a city;
many people drive to work from the suburbs
eggnog—a drink often associated with Christmas
(like Moon Cakes=Mid Autumn Festival)
lotto or lottery—a gambling game (often
state-run) where you buy a ticket in hope of winning money (you get cash for
a winning ticket at a place that sells tickets, and the store owner gets
money, too)
heart attack—a sudden, serious medical
condition where someone’s heart stops (many people can survive these attacks
if treated quickly)
perk—something you get legally from your job
in addition to wages/salary
Ferrari, Caddy/Cadillac, minivan—types of cars
(the first two are expensive; a minivan is a family car)
“tunnel vision”—the tendency to consider only
one part of sth. instead of all parts
“you blew it”—you missed the chance for
something good
“talk turkey”—to talk seriously about details,
esp. in business
“in a nutshell”—in summary
“an old flame”—a former girlfriend or
boyfriend; a past love
“a gift with ten zeros”—$10,000,000,000
The Family Man – Comparisons
In the opening scene, we see Kate asking Jack not to go to London to accept
a job. She wants him to stay and begin their life together, but Jack decides
to go. Thirteen years later, on Christmas Day, Jack Campbell finds himself
in a “glimpse” of what his life would have been like if he had flown back
from London the next day to marry Kate.
1. In real life, Jack is single and tells the
“angel” he doesn’t need anything to make his life complete. In Jack’s
glimpse, he wakes up and finds that he is married and has two children and a
dog!
2. In real life, Jack is the president of a
large financial corporation and works on Wall Street in New York City. In
Jack’s glimpse, Jack works for his father-in-law selling automobile tires.
3. In real life, Jack lives in a large,
expensive apartment and drives a nice sports car. In Jack’s glimpse, he
lives in a New Jersey suburb (about an hour from New York) and drives a
mini-van.
4. Though the successful Jack felt like his
life was complete, after being in the glimpse for a while, Jack begins to
think that he would be much happier if he had a family.
5. In Jack’s glimpse, Kate doesn’t make much
money as a non-profit lawyer (as she had planned to be while in college;
i.e., she gives legal help to people who cannot afford to pay). In real
life, we find that Kate is happy and successful, soon to move to Paris with
a large law firm/company.
Discussion:
(1) The last scene in the movie shows Jack and
Kate talking in the New York airport. We are left to imagine for ourselves
what the final outcome will be. What do you think will happen next?
(2) As you consider your first job after
college, what factors will be most important to you?
(3) With a partner, come up with five ethical
principles you could see in the movie: for example, “It is not good to make
your child the last one to be picked up, otherwise it will hurt his
feelings." (Annie tells Jack to pick her up at school earlier and not let
her be the last one left.)
(4) With a partner, come up with five business
principles you could see in the movie: for example, “Offering consistent
customers some discount may bring a good return to your business." (As a
tire retailer, Jack offers an old customer a certain percent discount).
