The plot offers a what-if scenario in which Jack Campbell (Cage) is the unmarried playboy president of a Wall Street mergers and acquisitions company, the sort of guy who works late on Christmas Eve.

On one such Christmas Eve, he encounters a strangely philosophical hold-up man (Cheadle) in a convenience store.

And, after a cryptic exchange in which Jack claims he has "everything I want," he returns to his high-rise apartment... only to wake up on Christmas morning in a house in suburban New Jersey with a wife and two kids.

Gradually, Jack begins to understand that he's being given a glimpse at the life he might have led, had he married his college sweetheart Kate (Leoni).

And, as time goes by, he becomes less and less sure whether he wants the life he has or the life he had.

Director Brett Rattner (previously of Rush Hour) offers a visual style that consists primarily of alternating full-screen close-ups.

Cage shows fantastic versatility spending much of the film wandering around in a state of mild bewilderment in a fish-out-of-water scenario.

The comic situations he finds himself in are amusing but rarely sustain laughter for much more than a titter, and the punch lines are often left for Jack's would-be daughter.

When Cage does get to break loose and let his true feelings be known, there are some funny scenes in The Family Man.

But, all in all, it feels like a sassy love story that hasn't quite realised its comic potential.

Tea Leoni does great work with what she has, turning Kate into a thoroughly plausible, sexy and grounded wife and mother.

And the interaction between Leoni and Cage is the best thing in The Family Man, almost effective enough in their sweet romanticism to give the whole package a boost.

But ultimately this is a film that is far more interested in cashing in on your good will than it is making the film worth your while.

Dominic Bloch