*** (out of ****)
Starring Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine, Hope Davis, Gemmenne de la Pena, Gil Bellows, and Nicolas Hoult
Directed by Gore Verbinski & written by Steven Conrad
2005
101 min R
The “art movie for everyone” or “corporate indie” is alive and well. The favored theme is the man past his prime coming to terms with life’s disappointments, usually amidst quirky awkwardness and our uneasy guffaws. Think Alexander Payne’s “About Schmidt” (old man) and “Sideways” (middle-aged man). Or “American Beauty” (middle-aged again) and “Garden State” (disillusioned young man). It would be easy to pick on movies like these (as well as call the critics who commend them something like “faux literati”). But their complete indifference to teenage appeal make them a refreshing genre; characters are allowed to be richer and a lot less commendable.
The disillusioned mid-lifer of “The Weather Man” is a TV weather guy (Nicolas Cage) in Chicago. He wanted his life to be one way, but instead, it’s another in virtually every respect. He’s divorced, he doesn’t understand his kids, and he’s never gotten a good word from his Pulitzer-winning father (Michael Caine). The Weather Man may earn $240,000 a year, but that only emphasizes his sensation of being a meaningless parasite. As Cage’s son gets into trouble, and his chubby daughter is perpetually on the verge of a wardrobe malfunction, and as the ex gets serious with a new man, the Weather Man spirals down and down.
His modus operandi—of claiming with desperate smiles that everything is okay—just won’t cut it. How Cage plays down how passing motorists peg him with fastfood for mis-predicting the weather is priceless. The ex-wife is played by Hope Davis, who with this picture, “About Schmidt,” and “American Splendor” seems to specialize as the woman upon whom men in crisis fixate. She is not the antagonist—the Weather Man is his own worst enemy—but her feminine ability to adapt while he cannot makes her appear in possession of all the cards.
Don’t let the preview fool you: there are parts of “The Weather Man” that threaten to veer into “Taxi Driver” territory. Meteorology’s inability to control or even properly predict the weather is used to represent the individual’s inability to control his destiny—the best he can do is learn to accept what comes his way. The movie is a comedy because it must be a comedy; a drama on this same subject would be depressing to the point of unwatchable.
Director Gore Verbinski’s other films include “The Ring” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.” All three movies include strained relations between parents and lonely children. “National Treasure” shows son Orlando Bloom estranged from his father while “The Ring” is essentially a metaphorical condemnation of Naomi Watts letting television raise her big-eyed boy. Now write an essay about them. Or maybe write an essay about how negatively our culture views TV meteorologists: with this movie and Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day,” it seems that there’s no job more likely to make you a self-centered schmuck.
Finished Monday, November 14, 2005
Copyright © 2005 Friday & Saturday Night
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