"It's a Wonderful Life" this ain't.

In most cases, such a comparison probably wouldn't be fair, especially since the only filmmaker who really exhibits Frank Capra-like tendencies these days is Steven Spielberg. But seeing as how "The Family Man" tries so hard to sell itself as some sort of modern-day Capra piece, it's hard to resist comparing the two films.

But if this underwhelming fantasy (with quite a few romantic comedy-drama elements) is supposed to be a classic holiday fantasy, the filmmakers failed to get many of the more important ingredients right.

For one thing, Nicolas Cage isn't a likable Jimmy Stewart everyman, despite his over-the-top effort. For another, his fairly repellent character — more like Ebernezer Scrooge than George Bailey — never goes through enough of a "transformation" for anyone to want to see him get a happy ending.

And speaking of that, the film also blunders its way through that promising opportunity. (Not to give too much away, but the thuddingly dull ending isn't exactly the way Capra would have wrapped up such a movie, either.)

Cage stars as Jack Campbell, an ultra-successful Wall Street stockbroker who has almost everything he could ever want, including a sports car, a huge wardrobe of $1,000 suits and a swank apartment.

However, there is one nagging doubt in his mind about how his life might have turned out had he not taken an internship in England and instead married his college sweetheart, Kate (Tea Leoni), with whom he lost contact after graduation.

As is often the case in movie fantasies, Jack gets an opportunity to see What Might Have Been after an encounter with a mysterious robber (Don Cheadle). The next morning, he wakes to find himself living a different existence — one in which he's married to Kate, has two children and works as a tire salesman in New Jersey.

Needless to say, he's perplexed and horrified at this turn of events, and he wants no part of his new "reality." But he seems powerless to change it, and some of his rather suspicious actions have Kate and their infant daughter (Makenzie Vega) convinced that something's different about him.

Given how manipulative and inconsistent the movie seems, perhaps it should come as no surprise that "The Family Man" comes from the screenwriting duo responsible for direct-to-video tripe like "Dream a Little Dream 2" and the director of such frenetic action-comedies as "Nothing to Lose" and "Rush Hour." As a result, the more "subtle" and "understated" scenes are overplayed, and Cage goes so over the top that he seems to be acting in a completely different movie.

In fact, the one really good performance comes from Leoni, who is so warm, funny and sexy that she makes it impossible to believe any man wouldn't fall for her on the spot — which only makes Cage's character more troublesome.

"The Family Man" is rated rated PG-13 for scattered profanity, veiled female nudity (seen through a shower door), and some crude humor (sexual) and sex talk. Running time: 124 minutes.

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