The Weather Man

If you're one of those people who go to see movies based solely on the trailer, this is one of those that is definitely not as its trailer portrays it. Instead of being a slapstick comedy, as you might have presumed, this film is a somewhat depressing drama with more funny moments than it really deserves to have. Actually, one of the best descriptions I've seen so far was something along the lines of "an indie film, on a Hollywood budget". Cage is terrific here, though he's not exactly breaking any new ground in playing an unhappy, pathetic middle-aged man. He manages to induce quite a lot of sympathy for his character and, in the end, that turns out to be a problem. We want to see Spritz (Cage's character) find something better in life, but a disappointing ending leaves us to wonder if he manages it and, if not, why did we bother with the movie in the first place? Overall, though, a good movie with some quality performances and an amazing script. My grade: B

Avg. Critic's Score: 6.1 (via Rotten Tomatoes)
Avg. Viewer's Score: 7.3 (via Imdb)

Synopsis: Popular Chicago weatherman, Dave Spritz, has a shot at the big 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. (via Yahoo)

Director: Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Writer: Steve Conrad (Wrestling Ernest Hemingway)
Stars: Nicolas Cage (Adaptation), Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules), Hope Davis (American Splendor), Nicholas Hoult (About A Boy), Gemmenne de la Pena (Erin Brockovich), Gil Bellows (The Shawshank Redemption), Michael Rispoli (While You Were Sleeping)

Useless Trivia: While shooting the film in February, director Gore Verbinski was surprised to find that the weather in Chicago was warm, as it didn't produce any snow. The production designers had to recreate snow from scratch, as the film takes place during the winter season.