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Director Gore Verbinski is still a bit of an unknown quantity, having directed such disparate films as "Mouse Hunt", "The Ring" and "Pirates of the Caribbean". He skips happily from genre to genre, providing quality entertainment. But he may have met his match in "The Weather Man". It is ... Read review
Meet David Spritz, Chicago's most popular weatherman and minor celebrity. Professionally ... more
he's on top of the world but his personal life is a mess. Failing father of two and frustrated son of a famous writer, Spritz is poised on a knife edge between stability and disaster. Faced with the chance of hitting the big time in New York he goes on a soul-searching mission to reunite his family, but the more he tries to take control, the more he finds that life, like the weather is completely unpredictable.From acclaimed director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) and starring Academy Award-winners Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine, The Weather Man is the comedy that will brighten your day.
... Bring an umbrella. Popular Chicago weatherman Dave Spirtz has a shot at the big ... more
time when a national morning television show calls him for an audition. Professionally Dave is on top of the world but his personal life is in complete disarray. Dave's painful divorce his dad's illness and trouble with his kids have him poised on the knife's edge between stability and disaster. The harder he tries to control events the more he finds life like the weather is completely unpredictable.
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Advantages: A couple of decent performances Disadvantages: A frosty film that fails to entertain
...should be on top of the world. Except he's still in love with his ex-wife (who hates him) and is estranged from his secretive son and obese daughter. He also thinks he's a disappointment to his dying father, a world-class novelist. And as if that wasn't bad enough, members of the public have taken to pelting him with fast food and drinks. But with the chance of a new job in New York, Dave might actually be able to turn his life around.
..."The Ring" and "Pirates of the Caribbean". He skips happily from genre to genre, providing quality entertainment. But he may have met his match in "The Weather Man". It is ostensibly a comedy but plays out more like a plodding character study or a dissection of middle-aged malaise. It opens with a vaguely unsettling landscape of shifting ice and snow on the surface of Lake Michigan and this visual chill continues throughout ... more
Chicago weather man Dave Spritz makes $240,000 a year for two hours work a day. So he should be on top of the world. Except he's still in love with his ex-wife (who hates him) and is estranged from his secretive son and obese daughter. He also thinks he's a disappointment to his dying father, a world-class novelist. And as if that wasn't bad enough, members of the public have taken to pelting him with fast food and drinks. But with the chance of a new job in New York, Dave might actually be able to turn his life around.
Director Gore Verbinski is still a bit of an unknown quantity, having directed such disparate films as "Mouse Hunt", "The Ring" and "Pirates of the Caribbean". He skips happily from genre to genre, providing quality entertainment. But he may have met his match in "The Weather Man". It is ostensibly a comedy but plays out more like a plodding character study or a dissection of middle-aged malaise. It opens with a vaguely unsettling landscape of shifting ice and snow on the surface of Lake Michigan and this visual chill continues throughout the movie. Shot in a muted palette on rain-slick streets and against backdrops of skeletal winter trees, there's nothing to warm to. The use of voice-over narration further distances the viewer from Spritz, as does the director's decision to show him in a permanent state of transition. Verbinski's usually impeccable timing deserts him and he falls back on film school trickery to try and keep the audience's attention. So we get surreal dream sequences, occasional address to camera and montages to explain the term "camel's foot". The tone should be one of ink-black humour, but there isn't enough sweet to temper the bitter and so the overwhelming impression is dour and angsty. As ever more depressing storylines are introduced, the pacing begins to unravel, feeling more and more somnolent as the film progresses. Consequently, as a viewer it's hard not to become as downbeat as the characters. I think there has been a critical misstep in the casting, requiring more of a character actor than a big name to draw out the subtleties of Spritz. But all hundred and two minutes fail to tickle the funny-bone in any great measure and leave a sour taste in the mouth.
The screenplay by Steven Conrad relies so heavily on its central character, that if you don't somehow connect with him, all is lost. The script is so dark that it would take either a magician or a chameleon to draw out the comedy in the character. I can imagine it looked much funnier on paper with the writer interpreting it in a way the actors seem incapable of. Much of the dialogue and many of the actions feel nothing but mean-spirited. Marrying family dysfunction and comedy isn't impossible, but it is difficult. But it always feels like Conrad is laughing at his characters and not with them. You get the impression that he doesn't like them very much and sees anyone as fair game. So he pokes fun at Spritz's overweight daughter and his breakdown in relations with his ex-wife. There are so many deep issues in the film (David's father's terminal cancer, his son's brush with a predatory paedophile) that the plotting often feels like a year's worth of "Eastenders" storylines compressed into a couple of hours. And the way each of them is treated makes it feel as though the writer is trying to emotionally blackmail the audience. What the script lacks is subtlety and an off switch for all the issues. Without it you simply feel as though you're laughing inappropriately if you laugh at all.
Nicolas Cage plays Dave Spritz with hangdog intensity that makes it difficult to identify with the character. Totally disconnected not only from his family but from the world at large, he is so self-absorbed that you understand why he is estranged from his kith and kin. It's another edgy performance from Cage that lets him use his patented angry man schtick. But he seems to have left his quirky charm at home, making the character seem more acerbic than he needs to. His obvious discomfort on screen is almost palpable in the audience. Sadly it's a one-note performance from the Oscar-winner that undermines the film.
Michael Caine wheels out another of his avuncular turns as David's Pulitzer Prize-winning father. He's blunt but warm and breathes life into the character, though he still hasn't mastered a decent American accent. Hope Davis plays the put-upon ex-wife well enough, but occasionally comes across as either a wet blanket or a harridan. There aren't enough gradations between her reactions to David, but I think this is more to do with the writing than Davis' performance. She's at the end of her tether and it's easy to see she regards her ex as a danger to herself and children.
Young British actor Nicholas Hoult does the silent teen thing well enough, but isn't really given a great deal of screen time. There are some funny scenes between him and Cage, where reaction rather than action is the key. Gemenne de la Peña performs whiny tweenage petulance as David's daughter Shelley, making it seem more like reality than acting; all sullen silences and nasal whingeing. Gil bellows plays paedophile Don almost as a caricature. From the moment you see him you know he's up to no good and his intentions are clear. He's the sort of flesh-creeping bogeyman you'd warn your kids about, which makes him somewhat unrealistic.
The score is something of a departure for composer Hans Zimmer. He eschews his habitual big orchestral suites with ethereal vocals for a more modern approach. The soundtrack consists of a lot of synthesized music, whether it be keyboards, drum machines, violins, Hammond organ or reverberating samples of scratched electronica. It's a vaguely unsettling soundscape that, if anything, adds to the sense of unease created by the rest of the film. So in one respect it fits the movie, though in another it undermines the comedy.
"The Weather Man" is a peculiar film that hits a bum note at the very start and never recovers from the discord. I think it has been mis-marketed as a comedy and would not have been so disappointing if I had been expecting a study of a man in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Nicolas Cage is sorely miscast as David Spritz and cannot handle the rigours of the script, producing a one-dimensional performance. The direction is uninspired and the script leaves much to be desired. It's a muddle of ideas and subplots that never really comes together to produce a satisfying whole.
Advantages: The start and end are ok, Cage, Caine & Hoult give decent enough performances Disadvantages: Lacks any obvious direction in the middle, not enough funny or dramatic moments, strong language
...and ended up buying it. The problem was, when I got it I realised it wasn't the movie I had thought of, I was thinking of a movie called 'The Family Man', not 'The Weather Man' *doh* so that was a bit of a mistake... this is altogether a different movie lol though it was ok as 'The Family Man' was shown on TV soon after and I got this DVD very cheap. As anyone who has read many of my movie reviews may know, I do like a few dark comedies, so I thought ... ...sometime, after all the front cover does show that a number of magazines had given it four star ratings. I've been running out of movies to watch, so I finally decided to put this one on last night and after watching it, I was left wondering quite why though... read on to find out more about the movie.
- Main Credits (non-actors, which are mentioned further on in the review) -
Source:- IMDB (see:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384680/fullcredits)
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IzzyS 28.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Weather Man (DVD)
Advantages: Worth a look Disadvantages: Not a Cage role for me.
...for all leading men in the brash producer’s movies-in this case Con Air-and could probably afford the same dentistry on the astronomical wages these TV meteorologists seem to get in the US. With the news (excuse the pun) that their anchormen and women get up to five million a year just for reading the autocue through gritted teeth its no surprise the wage levels transfer to the weather guys and girls for doing similar feats—the actual forecasts, ... ...the dusty backrooms of cable stations. Appearance is everything in America. They have Nick Cage and we have Bill Giles. But can you possibly make a Hollywood movie about the Michael Fish’s of the world? Well director Gore Verbinski (cool and famous sounding name, not many decent films) thinks he can and has certainly given it a good go here, although, in truth, the weatherman angle is just a cheap metaphor to express the winds of change in relationships ...
thedevilinme 24.11.2009 (11.12.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Weather Man (DVD)
Advantages: some good acting Disadvantages: definitely not a comedy
On the cover of the DVD of The Weather man it claims to be a 'comedy to brighten your day!' That sounded good so after a busy and tiring weekend I settled down to watch it hoping to be entertained and amused and sadly I was neither. In fact by the end of the film I was closer to slitting my wrists than splitting my sides with laughter! Either I have totally lost my sense of humour or this film has been bizarrely mis-marketed. I just couldn't see ... ...but it's not dreadful either! The thing is though that if you sit down to watch a particular type of film and you end up with something entirely different, it doesn't matter how good it is, you are bound to be disappointed.
It's actually quite a sad but thought provoking little film. It tells the story of Dave Spritz who is a fairly successful TV weather man but is an abject failure as far as his family is concerned. He is divorced from his wife, ...
kingfisher111 22.09.2008 (07.01.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Weather Man (DVD)
Advantages: loads of funny parts that will have you laughing for ages afterwards Disadvantages: story line sounds better than it is and film gets a bit silly in places
The weather man is a great comedy from the director of Pirates of the Caribbean (Gore Verbinski). Rated a 15+ due to strong language, sex and sexual references. One disk containing the film and special features. The film is approximately 97 minutes long. I found this film for only three pound in the bargain bin at blockbusters but have seen it priced at around the same price on eBay and Amazon. The cast then:
Nicolas cage -staring in such films ... ...and many more. He play's the man character David Spritzel shortened to Dave Spritz for hes weather show on TV.
Michael Caine - staring in films such as The Italian job (original), Austin power gold member, the dark night (batman) and many more. He plays Robert Spritzel a famous writer who becomes ill during the film.
Gemmenne de la Peña - only 16 years old and just starting out with her carrier has been in one episode of ER and has recently been ...
froggytori 06.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Weather Man (DVD)
Drama - Director: Chazz Palminteri - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Susan Sarandon, Penelope Cruz, Paul Walker, Alan Arkin, Marcus Thomas, Donna Hanover, Robin Williams
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![The Weather Man Dvd [2005] | Rispoli Sealed](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/106105706.jpg "The Weather Man Dvd [2005] | Rispoli Sealed")
