The Family Man

Sucks totally a farce he belongs in a gorilla cage

Eddie, a married mature man (Edward Asner) falls in love with much younger woman (Family Ties´ Meredith Baxter) and they start a passionate romance. But as their relationship develops and they become increasingly close, Eddie gets concerned about the growing crack in his marriage and his neglected wife, ending up without his younger lover. It´s sad to see that their relationship promised so much, they were so in love, and just like that, they broke up. The pressures of society always win. People just can´t accept the fact that two people with an age difference have emotionally the same capacity to love each other, no matter how big is the difference. That´s what happened to Eddie and his lover, and although they loved each other, he decided to remain married with his old wife. Just to keep the status quo. But the movie is worth seeing.

If you are an English-speaking country inhabitant you might end up fooled by the title as I said in the summary but thankfully for Italians like me is known as THE CHOICE. After this explanation I can go to the review.

Eddie Madden (Edward Asner) is an Irish-born New Yorker that falls in love with young pianist Mercedes Cole and tries to be unfaithful to his wife Maggie (Anne Jackson) but as Eddie and Mercedes have a sexless one-night stand she starts to have some daddy issues because of their age difference, Eddie has to choice (I won't spoil it) between his wife or his young lover.

As I saw this movie I found it a bit too similar to ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES because in that the lead (James Gandolfini) had an affair with a younger woman (Kate Winslet) and after some appointments he had to choose between her and his wife (Susan Sarandon) just in time for Christmas and it ends like that 2005 movie with the difference that here the lead doesn't die. If you haven't seen that movie, you'll be bound to dislike this movie as the other four reviewers did. But if you saw also ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES like me you'll find them very alike minus the music numbers and star-studded cast.

The older-man-younger-woman theme gets another go-round in this forgettable TV movie. Ed Asner plays the gruff middle aged guy Eddie who is tired of his marriage and feels unsatisfied. The lovely young Mercedes (Meredith Baxter) enters his life rather accidentally and the two fall in love. Baxter and Asner are probably the most unlikely romantic duo in the history of TV movies.

Eddie and Mercedes carry on their affair until Eddie's wife Maggie (Anne Jackson) expresses her dissatisfaction with being ignored. Will Eddie stay with Maggie or break loose with Mercedes? You may last long enough to find out.

I like Asner and Baxter, but the predictable script lets them down here. The May-December romance angle has been done better many other times, even though the cast is appealing here. You may enjoy "The Family Man" but it really didn't do much for me.