Review
Review Date: 30-October-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy
The Weather Man (2005)
When I told my friends at work that I was going to see "The Weather Man," one asked, "That new drama?" and the other said, "I thought you didn't like comedies!" Their confusion was perfectly understandable, since the trailer for the movie is an odd mixture of slapstick and family crisis. The movie itself is just as odd, only its diverse elements come together meaningfully in two hours as opposed to two minutes.
The studio could have billed "The Weather Man" as a latter-day version of "The Catcher in the Rye," but a highfalutin literary reference might have spelled low box office — which is kind of what the movie is about. It unfolds over several weeks in the life of Dave Spritz (Nicolas Cage), a Chicago weatherman at the crossroads of middle life. Dave has a number of dreams which seem to be within reach: he's in the running for a million-dollar position on a national TV show; he holds the continued attention of his ex-wife (Hope Davis), 12-year-old daughter (Gemmenne de la Peņa), and teenage son (Nicholas Hoult); and, if he could get his business and family life in line, he might win praise from his father (Michael Caine), a celebrated author who always does the right thing. The only problem is, Dave's dreams are chimera because he usually screws up. He means well but can never provide the comfort, wisdom, or support that people seek from him. Which, to his mind, is why strangers pelt him with junk food all the time.
In addition to being hilarious, the reoccurrence of Dave getting hit by shakes, burritos, and various forms of processed meat serves to underline his place in the world, as both a modern American and a weatherman. He's a public figure in a society that relies upon quick-and-easy solutions to all its needs and becomes frustrated when anything remains unmanageable, like the weather. Dave himself (who isn't a meteorologist but plays one on TV) gets aggravated by the fact that he can't swear it will rain Tuesday or get warmer Friday, just as he can't protect his children from wickedness or his father from death. The only time he's ever in control is when he practices his new hobby, archery, and he clings to it like a piece of driftwood on the ice-choked waste of Lake Michigan.
Much of "The Weather Man" takes place inside Dave's head, where it's messy, funny, and sad in the way of most Average Joes. (I hope.) When the outcome of his dreams becomes apparent, he reflects on the men he might have been and accepts that life whittled him down to who he is, which isn't noble or reliable or the answer to anyone's prayers. He's like a 40-year-old Holden Caulfield who realizes that he grew up to be a phony in a phony world — the human equivalent of fast food — and who cracks a little, heads to New York, and carries on. It's not the kind of simplistic story one expects from Hollywood or can convey in a two-minute trailer. It's a resigned but honest tribute to American mediocrity emerging from the root of good intentions.
Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.
