Plot
A Chicago weather man, separated from his wife and children, debates whether professional and personal success are mutually exclusive.
Release Year: 2005
Rating: 6.8/10 (44,958 voted)
Critic's Score: 61/100
Director:
Gore Verbinski
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Hope Davis, Nicholas Hoult
Storyline Dave Spritz is a local weatherman in his home town of Chicago, where his career is going well while his personal life -- his relationship with his perfectionist writer father, his neurotic ex-wife, and his now-separated children -- is spiraling downward. Despite being both loathed and loved by the local masses, Dave is a guy who doesn't seem to have it all together, and in this film, he begins to feel it. An attractive job offer presents Dave with a major question: to pursue his career in New York City, or to remain at home with his family.
Cast: Nicolas Cage
-
David Spritz
Michael Caine
-
Robert Spritzel
Hope Davis
-
Noreen
Gemmenne de la Peña
-
Shelly
(as Gemmenne De La Peña)
Nicholas Hoult
-
Mike
Michael Rispoli
-
Russ
Gil Bellows
-
Don
Judith McConnell
-
Lauren
Chris Marrs
-
DMV Guy
Dina Facklis
-
Andrea
J. Nicole Brooks
-
Clerk
(as Deanna NJ Brooks)
Sia A. Moody
-
Nurse
(as Sia Moody)
Guy Van Swearingen
-
Nipper Guy
Alejandro Pina
-
Fast Food Employee
Jackson Bubala
-
Fast Food Child
Filming Locations: 333. N Canal St Chicago, Illinois, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $22,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $4,248,465
(USA)
(30 October 2005)
(1510 Screens)
Gross: $19,039,770
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
To complement the fast food theme, the McDonald's logo appears prominently on screen no less than nine times.
Goofs:
Factual errors:
When David is at Robert's house, we see Robert's Pulitzer Prize, a piece of carved engraved glass. Individual Prize winners actually receive a certificate.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Dave Spritz:
That was refreshing. I'm refreshed. I'm refreshing.
User Review
Alternately hilarious and dark, with misleading marketing
Rating: 9/10
When I first saw the advertisements for "The Weather Man", it seemed
like the movie was going to be another formulaic, feel good Hollywood
redemption tale. In reality, it is a dark, scathing satire of American
values. The marketing likely scared away a lot of people who would
enjoy the film, while attracting an audience who was presented with
something unexpected and perhaps uncomfortable. The comedy is quite
raunchy, the tone is bleak, and the story is anything but formulaic,
throwing industry conventions right out the window, which leads to a
film that's more believable than most.
David Spritz is a man whose life has become the ultimate exercise in
futility. Each day, he wakes up and goes to a job that, despite paying
a handsome salary, is entirely unfulfilling. His relationship with his
ex-wife is strained, his relationship with his children distant. To
make things worse, his Pulitzer Prize winning father seems to be
disappointed in what David has done with his life.
In real life, progress in one's personal life is generally made in baby
steps. Usually, people don't undergo a drastic transformation over the
course of several months. David attempts to improve his standing in
life, at times failing entirely, at times succeeding in small doses.
The results of these attempts range from very funny to downright
saddening, and this helps lend the film an air of realism. This is a
complicated character study about a man coming to grips with the fact
that he's failed to meet any of the goals he set for himself in life,
despite attaining a social standing that many people are envious of.
There aren't any easy answers or life altering epiphanies;
self-improvement is a long, gradual task that will probably never be
completely fulfilled, and "The Weather Man" reflects this reality.
While not for all tastes, this movie deserves credit for tackling a
relatively conventional subject in a very unconventional, at least for
a mainstream Hollywood movie, manner. I imagine that this film will be
a bigger success overseas and on DVD than it will be in its US
theatrical run.
0