For 'Weather Man,' the rain just keeps pouring down
Although the ads for The Weather Man suggest something with an upbeat, if offbeat, comic tone - shots of fast-food projectiles beaning Nicolas Cage on his noggin - such is hardly the case.A gloomy, self-serious picture about a Chicago meteorologist whose life is falling apart, The Weather Man is a meditation on failure, perceived and real, and on the sour legacy of family dysfunction. Yes, people throw sodas and milkshakes at Cage's Dave Spritz, but that's because they hate him. He's on TV (in Chicago) predicting the weather, and when he's wrong, folks get mad. Cage plays the guy like the saddest of sad sacks.
Although the ads for The Weather Man suggest something with an upbeat, if offbeat, comic tone - shots of fast-food projectiles beaning Nicolas Cage on his noggin - such is hardly the case.
A gloomy, self-serious picture about a Chicago meteorologist whose life is falling apart, The Weather Man is a meditation on failure, perceived and real, and on the sour legacy of family dysfunction. Yes, people throw sodas and milkshakes at Cage's Dave Spritz, but that's because they hate him. He's on TV (in Chicago) predicting the weather, and when he's wrong, folks get mad. Cage plays the guy like the saddest of sad sacks.
Directed by Gore Verbinski, of the polished studio hits The Ring and Pirates of the Caribbean, The Weather Man moves like litter on a Windy City sidewalk - in circles, backwards, into puddles of muck.
The muck in Dave Spritz's life comes courtesy of his father, a famous novelist played by a dour Michael Caine. Dave tries his hand at writing, too, but it's unlikely his pulpy prose is going to win any prizes. His father, Robert, casts a long and judgmental shadow; it's all Dave can do to get out from under it.
Dave's marriage to Noreen (Hope Davis) is likewise a disaster. He lives in a Chicago highrise, but she has the old house, and a new boyfriend. And the couple's two children aren't faring well: a teenage girl with weight and self-esteem issues, and a son who's looking for a father figure, and finds one in a school counselor who may be a pedophile.
The Weather Man belongs to a school of earnest, artsy Hollywood flicks that includes the Michael Douglas-goes-bonkers Falling Down, and a lineage that goes back to revered 1970s pics like Five Easy Pieces.
But with its heavy-handed narration and too-obvious symbolism (Dave takes up archery, trying to hit his target), The Weather Man is less about anger and alienation than it is about depression.
No, scratch that - it's not about depression, it's just depressing.
Contact movie critic Steven Rea
at 215-854-5629 or srea@phillynews.com.
The Weather Man
** (out of four stars)
Produced by Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch, directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Steven Conrad, distributed by Paramount Pictures. With Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine and Hope Davis.
Running time: 1 hour, 41 mins.
Parent's guide: R (profanity, adult themes)
Playing at: area theaters