THIRTEEN years ago, when Jack Campbell left for London to pursue a promising career, he promised his law school-bound sweetheart Kate that they would only be apart for a year.

Now it's Christmas Eve, and Jack is a highly paid, high-powered and high living Wall Street bachelor, and Kate is a distant memory.

But when he awakes one morning, Jack discovers he has magically swapped his immaculate designer penthouse for a cluttered suburban bedroom next to Kate, 13 years older and sleep-deprived with a baby crying next door and a six-year-old girl calling him Daddy.

Nicolas Cage heads the cast as the career man transformed into The Family Man, a new romantic comedy fantasy co-starring Tea Leoni as his long-lost girlfriend.

Not only does he now live in New Jersey, not New York, but he drives a minivan instead of a Ferrari.

And instead of masterminding deals on Wall Street, he is a tyre salesman whose wardrobe is filled with flannel shirts rather than thousand dollar designer suits.

Despite the shock to his system, Jack starts to enjoy his new-found family life and falls in love all over again with Kate who, despite her lack of sleep, limited wardrobe and meagre salary, is more attractive and intelligent than all the women Jack has met in the last 13 years.

All of a sudden, this glimpse at what his life could have been like seems very attractive.

But is it really just a glimpse or is it a second chance?

Director Brett Ratner felt actor Nicolas Cage was a natural to fill the complex role of a man whose life takes a drastic turn one Christmas.

"Nic Cage was born for this role," he says.

"He has an innate ability to be real in any situation, even if that situation is totally surreal.

He's a great dramatic actor but he also has a lighter side and he knows how to balance the comedy with the real moments."

Cage, in turn, was inspired by Ratner's enthusiasm for the project as well as the intelligent, multi-layered script.

"There are real laughs in the sense that they're not coming from gags or gimmicks," explains Cage.

"It's genuinely poignant and emotional at times and there are tender moments throughout."

For Cage, the appeal of the role was the concept of a man living one life and then suddenly finding himself thrown into an entirely different life which is totally alien to him and yet completely plausible.

He says: "The situation seemed unique to me, when you consider the counterpoint of being a single man in Manhattan with a lot of money, enjoying his life the way a single man does, versus a family man, enjoying his life the way a family man does.

Ultimately, he realises what's truly important to him."

Producer Andrew Davis promises audiences will leave the film with something to think about: "The Family Man is not some big broad comedy that you walk away from with a taste you don't remember.

It's more like a really rich piece of Belgian chocolate that you put in your mouth.

You savour it and then it's gone.

But you still have the memory of that taste."