THE WEATHER MAN (DVD)

Director: Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Mexican, The Ring)
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine, Hope Davis

The Weather Man is a story of achieving a working relationship with the struggles of everyday life. It’s a story about taking the effort to tackle tough issues. Nicolas Cage is a divorced weatherman at a local TV station, struggling mightily with connecting to those around him, his confused children, his ex-wife, his wise old father dying of lymphoma. Actually it would be better to say that he’s not struggling to connect with those around him. He’s wishing that he could connect, and frustrated mightily by his failure, but this man has chosen to take the easy route in most every aspect of his life. In a nutshell this story is precisely about the easy way versus the hard. And as Michael Caine says (in an excellent performance as the supremely wise and talented, even Pulitzer Prize-winning father) “Easy doesn’t enter into adult life”. He’s right. The Weather Man is not.

Nicolas Cage gives a very good performance as this average Joe, depressed with his lot. He’s paid an enormous salary to do a nonsensical job. He has zero respect from anyone in the film, except for his father who accepts him while pushing him to be more. Strangers on the street throw milkshakes at him. His children don’t know much, except that they don’t understand this man. They sense that he’s not a bad person, but they certainly aren’t thrilled by his presence. His ex-wife (Hope Davis) has simply had enough of him. It turns out that the easy path is the path of self-involvement. It’s extremely simple to fulfill your own desires, and that’s just what Nicolas Cage did in his marriage. He wasn’t necessarily selfish to the point of not caring about others. He definitely did. He was simply selfish to the point of not taking the effort as he should to positively affect others – a fine point to be sure, but a very important one. This man didn’t cheat on his wife. He just didn’t take the time to care about her.

In many ways this film could have been excellent. In the end, however, almost nothing really came together. Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine are two extraordinary actors. Hope Davis isn’t exactly a slouch, either. All of them give quality performances here, but there’s nothing exceptional in them. The script touches on very interesting material, has its moments of humor and pathos, but mostly it’s just boring. The direction was extremely ho-hum. This is a film that had potential, but missed the target.

Standouts: Workmanlike quality from Cage and Caine.
Blowouts: The script had its moments, but didn’t really make it. Direction was average.

Grade: B-