|
|
|
|
|
David Spritz (Nicolas Cage) sees himself as a complete screw-up. His ex-wife, Noreen (Hope Davis) can hardly stand to talk to him. His 15-year-old son, Mike (Nicholas Hoult), has already gone through rehab. His 12-year-old daughter, Shelly (Gemmenne de la Peña), is picked on at school—and she doesn’t seem to have an interest in anything, other than smoking. And, as Chicago’s most well-known weatherman, Dave frequently gets fast food thrown at him while he’s walking down the street.
Dave’s father, Robert Spritzel (Michael Caine), is a famous author—one who’s rarely had anything positive to say to his son. And while Dave’s always wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, the poorly written novel that he’s been working on for four years proves that his chances are pretty slim.
When Dave discovers that his father is dying, he decides that he’s got one last chance to make his father proud. To do that, he needs to fix his kids’ problems, get back together with his ex, and get a high-paying job in New York as the weatherman on Bryant Gumbel’s Hello America. Along the way, he discovers that you can’t have it all. Sometimes you’ve got to chuck a few things and move on. And, as it turns out, life is a lot like the weather—you can’t really predict it.
The Weather Man is a film that defies categorization. It’s funny, but it’s not a comedy. It’s dramatic, but it’s too peculiar to be just a drama. It’s a quirky character film that’s as unpredictable as the weather.
In general, the story is pretty bleak. Even the funny parts are typically at the expense of poor, clueless Dave. So little seems to go right for him, though he tries so hard, in the only way he knows how, to make everything work out. That makes the movie pretty hard to watch at times. It also makes it shockingly real. Dave isn’t a superhero. He’s just a regular guy—and Cage plays him with spectacular depth and honesty. In the end, some things work out and some things don’t. But viewers are left with a little bit of hope—that things can actually be okay, even if they’re not what you’ve planned.
The Weather Man definitely isn’t the Hollywood norm. It’s not a mainstream kind of movie. But in an hour and a half’s time, this profound, quirky, honest film may even teach you a thing or two about yourself.
|
|
|
|
