I shouldn’t watch “The Family Man.” For me, it’s too powerful — and some of it hurts too much.
I haven’t seen this movie for about five years, but I came across a copy tonight. I wasn’t planning to watch it, but, somehow, I watched a few minutes. Then a few more. And then I couldn’t turn away. In some metaphorical way, I saw too much of myself in Jack.
Even more than that, though, I knew what he felt like — after he found himself transformed against his will — to know what his future could look like if he pursued love instead of selfishness.
And I know what it feels like to see Kate and to know she’s slipping away — to chase her and to beg her to have faith in a crazy dream. I know what he feels like when he delivers the sales pitch of his life standing in the middle of an airport: “I know we could both go on with our lives, and we’d both be fine. But I’ve seen what we can be like together.”
And that line crushes my heart each time I hear it, because I’m terrified Kate will get onto that plane anyway.