The Weather Man

5 out of 7

The Weather Man (2005) delivers a child-like message in a VERY adult manner.

Since we’ve been young, assuming we had decent role models, parents, etc…, we’ve been told to just be ourselves. For David Spritz (Nicolas Cage), this message has yet to be taken to heart, even though he’s in his thirties, has two kids and is estranged from his wife. Sadly, the http://www.imdb.com/ plot outline sums up the entire film when it says “A Chicago weather man, separated from his wife and children, debates whether professional and personal successes are mutually exclusive.” For Spritz, he believes that if he can be something bigger, something better that all will go as he desires. As such, he sees his profession as a weather man as a hinderance to his personal happiness, though he complicates that idea with his desire to make it to the national stage as a weather man, with its big pay check and supposed greater esteem.

Yet, before this critique begins to paint this film in a bad light, it should be remembered that even though an old story (message) is being told again, it might still have meaning and, how it’s told is important.

The Weather Man succeeds in delivering this little moral on being one’s self through very adult situations and, especially, language. Very rarely does a film use “fuck” as many times as this film and still maintain its dignity. And while, the word is often used to its comedic end (which is no accomplishment when it comes to vulgarity), it also uses it well in dramatic ways. For a character who has “nothing to knuckle down on,” as Spritz refers to himself, sometime the most appropriate way to portray and articulate frustration, anger, and fear is through a few “fucks” (no joke implied there).

Finally, there’s a comedic part in the film that centers the message, where Spritz’s overweight daughter, who is called camel toe by the boys at her school, explains that she is called such because she’s tough. Spritz, of course knowing the true, vulgar meaning of this term, allows his daughter this illusion, if only to keep her in childhood a little longer. In this strange scene, the viewer can find the entirety of the film: Here is vulgarity, though here also is a moral, a message.

What the film succeeds in doing is capturing something quite real. It uses vulgarity as it is used in real life (ever have a fight with a lover and use fuck one too many times? Ever get mad at a friend and call him/her a name? If so, you’ve danced the same dance as this film). The film also gives a moral as one might find one if one were to spend some time in introspection. In the end, of course, the best story ever told is our own, but the ironic part is that we spend more time listening to/watching other people’s stories…even fictitious ones. What this film features is a fictitious character, who undergoes vis-à-vis a number of stimuli, a lot of personal reflection. To highlight this reflection, the film gives a lot of its story in the form of voice over from Nicolas Cage, which breaks one of the rules of good story-telling by telling, not showing. In the end, though, it works.

The film also takes on father-son relationships, a topic that very few films engage honestly, which allows Michael Caine (who plays David’s father, Robert) the screen time his talent deserves.

It was billed as a comedy, which its funny scenes certainly warrant, but do not be afraid to watch The Weather Man prepared to feel something, to learn something.