The Weather Man
Directed by Gore Verbinski
Written by Steve Conrad
Starring Nicholas Cage, Hope Davis, Nicholas Hoult and Michael Caine.
Released October 28, 2005.
Budget of $22M ($29.2M in 2020)
Box Office: $19M ($12.5M Domestic, $6.6M Oversea) ($25.2M in 2020)
Gross: Movie was a flop, didn’t make back it’s original budget.
IMDb: 6.5/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 59% Metacritic: 61%
Plot:
The movie opens with a montage of a dream job for Dave Spritz, the morning show Hello America as Dave practices his “weather moves” and introduces himself. He leaves his apartment and finds a ticket on his vehicle. After a contentious meeting at the DMV and picking up his daughter from dance, Dave drives his father, Robert, to a doctors appointment. Meanwhile his son Mike goes shopping at the mall and bumps into his councilor, Don.
S: Very 2000’s look/feel to the opening.
-I hate Nic Cages hair
-DMV writing/dialogue is TERRIBLE
-His on-air weather character is ANNOYING
-Who lets a 12 year old girl walk home alone in Chicago!?!
-Michael Cain isn’t likable. And what’s with the weird, shitty accent?
-Don is creepy AF, and the “catch ya later” when they leave… Creepy and weird.
Dave is walking down the street and has a frosty thrown at him. He reminisces about food being thrown at him and wonders why. He takes his daughter to public picnic where she tears her ACL. Mike and Noreen agree to go to therapy, which then leads to an argument about trust. Dave accompanies his father to another doctors visit, followed by an archery montage and Mike having dinner with Don the councilor and him taking pictures of Mike.
S: All of the weird dialog.
-He’s make $240K for 2hrs of work and a large public persona… That’s BS. (Bereau of Labor Statistics says annual median pay in 2016 for a meteorologist was $92,460. According to ZipRecruiter, average pay for a meteorologist in 2021, in Illinois is $72,587.
-After the picnic, the “fight” is so dumb… Calling him a “pork butt” and a “dildo”? These are playground insults, felt unrehearsed.
-Dave dropping he wrote a science fiction novel this late in the movie… Why? Weird plot device.
-Told you that councilor was creepy as fuck.
Dave and Shelly discuss archery vs. bow hunting. Dave reflects on the argument that possibly caused his divorce: tartar sauce. Dave gets good news about an interview at Hello America, goes to NYC to interview, bringing Shelly to connect more, and his dad for tests. Dave learns Mike has assaulted his councilor Don, Richard tells him he has Lymphoma, which leads to a living funeral and an attempt for Dave to reconcile with Noreen.
S: Bow hunting does sound like fun. Moving target.
-The internal monologue during the tartar sauce flashback was the only funny part of the movie.
-There is WAY too much talk of a 12 year olds camel toe.
-The Hello America interview was weirdly shot… Like, no one else was in there?
-“Like a rock…”
Dave seeks out Don, beats and threatens him. He meets with Mike at the food court for an insightful chat. Dave and Richard have an affirming conversation in Richards car; then we learn that shortly after Richard has died. There is a funeral and Dave offers some reflection. We finally see that Dave has taken the Hello America job in NYC, Mike completed his course, Shelly seems happy, and Noreen seems proud of Dave. Meanwhile, Dave moves on with some wisdom from Richard, “Easy doesn’t enter into adult life…”
S: The pie inner monologue was almost funny… When he realized clowns have pies thrown at them. He’s a clown.
-He’s also fast food.
-We see the start of the happy ending: Dave gets his dads affirmation.
-During/after the funeral, we get this weird monologue about how he wanted to be this person, but eventually stopped trying, basically, and became who he is. Isn’t that exactly how you become a shitty person? By not trying to be a better person?
-The ending is still fucking bleak… “easy doesn’t enter into adult life”
OVERALL: The writing/dialogue was TERRIBLE. EVERYTHING felt forced, and uncomfortable. It never had a rhythm or beat, which made it VERY off putting.
Webpage: https://theguysreview.simplecast.com/ EM: theguysreviewpod@gmail.com IG: @TheGuysReviewPod Twitter: @The_GuysReview FB: https://facebook.com/TheGuysReviewPod/ Please, rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts from!!
Thank you, -The Guys