>>REVIEW
THE WEATHER MAN
STARRING Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine and Hope Davis
DIRECTED BY Gore Verbinski
Opens Friday, October 28
Check listings
The Weather Man may seem familiar – middle-aged loser tries to win his estranged family’s love and his dying father’s respect – but this deceptively affable comedy is fresher than it looks.
For starters, its loser is actually pretty lucky, and he knows it. Although Chicago weatherman David Spritz is so doltishly self-absorbed that he misses conversations taking place around him (a trait Nicolas Cage struggles not to overplay), his career is thriving and his wife (Hope Davis) still cares for him, even as she’s dating someone new. His dad (Michael Caine, accent undetermined, but essential kindness undiminished) isn’t some bastard who abandoned his family, but rather a successful author whose prowess at parenting Spritz wishes he could emulate. As Spritz reaches out to his overweight daughter and bad-influence-magnet son, the film shows them reaching back, shyly relishing the attention. It’s a rare movie that depicts kids who need their parents’ approval and get it.
As a comedy, though, The Weather Man can be a little clunky. A running joke about Spritz’s fans pelting him with fast food goes on too long, while Spritz’s relationship with his dad stops short just as it’s getting good. Spritz’s disconnectedness also strains the audience’s patience and the character’s credibility, especially when he snaps out of it to deliver pitch-perfect weather reports. Moreover, it forces his interior monologue to carry the story. (Fortunately, that monologue is damn funny, in an Adaptation-lite sorta way.)
But what keeps the film humming is how low-key and uncontrived the drama is. Spritz’s happy ending somehow fulfils the American dream while remaining completely un-Hollywood. That’s quite a feat. |
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