“The Weather Man” (Paramount Pictures)
Nicholas Cage stars in “The Weather Man,” a comedy/drama about one man’s fight to have a reason for living. It is a well acted, sometimes funny film, but the question is who will want to see it. It is dismally gloomy from beginning to end and no one is redeemed in the outcome. For “The Weather Man” the forecast is dark and dreary.
Cage plays Dave Spritz, a weatherman in Chicago. He is divorced from his wife Noreen (Hope Davis) but still loves her. He has hopes of a reconciliation. He and Noreen have two children, Mike (Nicholas Hoult) and Shelley (Gemmenne de la Pena). Dave tries to be a good father but doesn’t seem to be able to reach them. He also tries to be a good son to his father (Michael Caine) but has problems there also.
The whole movie is about Dave’s efforts to break through and become a better person. But he is blocked at every turn by his own ineptness or the negligence of others. He is successful in his business life but that brings him little joy.
One of the funniest running jokes in the movie is that Dave is constantly being hit with fast food items. People riding by in cars hurl this food at him. One time it is chicken nuggets, another it is a frosty. Over and over he gets smeared with food by someone who recognizes him as “the weather man.”
The acting in the movie is good. Cage perfectly inhabits the role of this sad sack who can’t catch a break from his kids, his wife or his parents. He seems to have a perpetual black cloud over his head and a sign on his back that says, “Kick me!”
Caine is also good as Dave’s father, a man facing a health crisis. He underplays his role rather than exhibiting the natural Caine exuberance. In their scenes together Caine and Cage are amazing.
In one of the most uncomfortable elements of the movie, Gill Bellows of “Ally McBeal” fame plays a sexual predator. Bellows is usually seen as the hero in his movies so to see him in this cameo as a stalker is indeed jarring.
The film is rated R for constant profanity, brief nudity and some violence.
The film starts out depressing and heads downhill fast. The comedy is carefully planted in the scenes to give some relief but it doesn’t really help. By the end of the movie everything is VERY depressing.
This is one of those movies you admire but you don’t like. The acting and the humor are entertaining but the overall tone of the movie is a killer.
Don’t go to see “The Weather Man” when you are feeling down or else you might come out of it feeling suicidal. If you must go, make sure you are in the cheeriest of moods.
I scored “The Weather Man” a forecast of 5 out of 10.
