"The Weather
Man" had the best trailer of 2005. Period. Hands
down. It's a shame that the trailer, in it's few
minutes, is an A+ piece of storytelling. The
full film, while certainly funny, insightful and
competent, is just not as good as that damn
trailer.
With that said...
Nicolas Cage stars as a man of the title
profession who is living a miserable existence.
To tell you more would include me writing
SPOILERS in large, friendly, letters and I do
not want to do that.
Gore Verbinski managed to sneak this little film
in between "Pirates of the Caribbean" 1 and 2.
My response to that: Wow, this guy has range! To
create a $100 million family epic and then turn
around and make a $4 million epic about a family
requires some incredible range. He also directed
"The Ring"? Okay, Mr. Verbinski, you are on my
good side.
Mr. Nicolas Cage: this year you have turned in
two marvelous performances. The superior
performance is in the superior "Lord of War,"
but your turn here is certainly no slouch.
There's no reason to run away and do "National
Treasure 2" or something of that ilk...you're
too talented. Mr. Cage...? Please come back.
The child actors, playing Cage's two kids,
manage to slide right into the ultra-dark tone
of the film and play real characters, no matter
how damaging it may have been to their egos.
Despite this sardonic tone, I am being
completely serious when I say that Gemmenne De
la Peña and Nicolas Hoult have bright futures as
actors ahead of them. At this age, already
playing these roles? Fantastic.
The script it also clever, witty and
appropriately melancholy. It's funny because
it's real, but it's tragic because it's too
real. If there is a major flaw with the
storyline, it is the overuse of sex jokes. The
rest of the film is so far above these juvenile
moments that it takes the audience right out of
the film. I did like how the script handled the
father character (Played by Michael Caine,
bearing the expression of "I'm here for the
paycheck, but I'll still be good because this is
not a piece of trash film"). A lesser screenplay
would have made him a tyrant, but the strained
relationship between father and son work
beautifully BECAUSE he is not a tyrant, but a
real, slightly egotistical, but otherwise fine
man. Long after I forgot most details of the
film, a sequence that occurs near the end
between father and son remains one of the single
most gut-wrenching and heartbreaking moments
I've seen at the cinema in 2005. "The
Weatherman" is worth seeing for this scene.
Truth be told, while I enjoyed the film during
it's duration, on the drive home I found that I
had nothing to say other than "It was very
good." Perhaps a few comments about it's light
dissection of our culture, but mostly that it
was "very good." Certainly not a conversation
starter, but worth the time.
© Written by
Jacob Hall
TC Candler's Comment
I liked
this film without ever really generating a
passion for it. Cage's performance is a
memorable one as the bedraggled and exhausted
weather man who is desperately trying to hold on
to the remnants of his family while balancing
his efforts to land a network television job.
There are elements of "American Beauty" here,
without the cinematic brilliance of that 1999
classic. There is also a distinct slap in
the face directed at suburban American life and
a hopeless sense that happiness cannot be
forced... it can only be stumbled upon by
chance.
Richard
Propes' Comment
I hated
this film. I didn't enjoy a single minute of it.
I give it a C-, because I'm a critic and I'm
supposedly skilled at recognizing the critical
value of a film even when it may not necessarily
be my kind of film. "The Weather Man" had
critical value, but I found it to be a bland,
lifeless and pointless exercise dramatic
statements made with only a hint of emotional
authenticity. Nicolas Cage is utterly dreadful
here as a self-centered, insecure yet oddly
narcissistic weather man with poor insight, poor
social skills and offensive
parenting/relationship skills. Michael Caine
brings to mind his career worst "Jaws: Revenge"
performance. I can only hope this performance
bought him a house, because it certainly has no
other redeeming value. The young daughter? She
was the anti-Sarah Steele...same issues, same
situation but an utterly lifeless performance.
The script here is chaotic and rambling, and
Verbinski's direction is simply tired and
methodical. Have I mentioned I hated this film?
I even hated the POSTER of this film. That's how
much I hated this film.
