The Weatherman

Saw this one over the weekend in Chicago. I liked it, but nobody with me did. Friedberg said it was like About Schmidt and I'd say that makes sense. This isn't a cheery, happy movie with a feel-good ending, but I think it's good nonetheless. This movie is about a man, Dave, who is the weatherman on a local TV station. He's divorced from his wife and has two kids, a son and daughter. His dad is also around who is sort of a no-nonsense sort of person and won the Pulitzer prize in his early 30's. He was also declared a 'national treasure' by one of the presidents with whom he regularly played raquetball. Dave's life is pretty crappy. This isn't because he lives in the street or has no money or nobody cares about him, etc, etc. This is mainly because of things Dave has done. The whole 'sow what you reap' thing tends to come true in many situations. Dave wants to be able to relate to his kids and get back together with his wife, but he seems to do all the wrong things to make this happen. At times it even seems like he's hardly trying at all, sabotaging his own efforts. After Dave's father is diagnosed with cancer and it becomes very apparent his kids' lives are going down the tubes, Dave finally starts to come around and get things together. He starts to appreciate his father a bit more and takes up archery as a way to release some of that stress he's walking around with all the time. The people I saw this with said they were all depressed afterwards. I thought the movie had a very satisfactory ending. Dave ended up getting a job in New York and moving. He came to terms with many of the things that were eating him away. Dave was flying back to Chicago every weekend to still spend time with his kids. Things were much better for Dave personally. I think maybe people won't like this movie because it's so close to home for some. Some will also get annoyed with many of the subtle product placements. Still some will like it because it's not happy and cheery and things aren't resolved in the most awesomest ways possible. Dave was played by Nicolas Cage and his father was played by Michael Caine who happens to be one of the best British actors ever (in my opinion). Excellent performances by both. Dave's wife was played by Hope Davis (American Splendor, Arlington Road), his son by Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy), and his wife's new husband was played by Michael Rispoli, (Spinner Dunn from Death to Smoochy). Even though this movie is dark, there were still a lot of funny parts to it. I'm going to recommend this one to fans of the more independent films. Hopefully you'll find some worth in it like I did.