yuenw003

This is a comedy/drama about an alternate reality. Some of us have probably wondered how life might have been had we made one decision over another. So is the case of Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) an egotistical, arrogant New York corporate investment deal-maker who is assigned to Europe for a year, leaving his college sweetheart Kate (Tea Leoni) behind. Kate's final appeal to him to stay back and be with her is declined. Jack awakens the following morning, not in his hotel room in Europe, but to a fast-forwarded version of what life (15 years later) would have been like to listened to Kate. Cash (Don Cheadle) is his guardian angel. This life is one of an average 9-5 salary family man living in the New Jersey suburbs married to Kate with a baby boy, and elementary school aged daughter. Jack distresses over this change. He dislikes living on budget, his low paying job as a tire salesman, and abhors the responsibilities of being a dad. After a few weeks, however, Jack begins to enjoy this life, Cash shows up again to return him to his original starting point. Jack falls asleep that night and awakens to his original life. Having seen a version of how life would have played out with Kate, he is now determined to have her.

It is common in America to take shortcuts (like drugs) for enhancing productivity. It is a simple, painless, and quick method. In reality, these perceived enhancements are just people creating their own reality. School is really boring. Getting A's is really just regurgitating all the lies and unnecessary memorization of facts that your subconscious mind finds repulsive. The placebo effect of taking Adderall and other ADHD drugs is convincing your mind that the drug will permit your rebellious mind to be more obedient. Pro athletes, programmers, and financial traders who believe in the effects of these drugs are really experiencing a self-fulfilling prophesy (creating their own reality.) By believing and subscribing to the notion that one has to compete at a superhuman level to succeed is the collective turning a myth into a reality.