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Earl Evleth 28-10-2005 16.28.49

We weatherpeople don't get any respect
 


MOVIE REVIEW

In 'Weather Man,' little chance of emotion

By Wesley Morris, Globe Staff *|* October 28, 2005

''The Weather Man" finds Nicolas Cage in a self-pitying mood. In the past,
this would have been happy news. Cage in a funk was good for ''Leaving Las
Vegas" and ''Adaptation." Even in a movie as imbalanced as Martin Scorsese's
''Bringing Out the Dead," Cage's depression soulfully complemented
Scorsese's mania. Those movies gave Cage an opportunity to be inventive and
inspired. ''The Weather Man" gives him license to drift for nearly two hours
like a parade float.

Cage plays a Chicago TV weatherman who mopes from one scene to the next in a
fog of depression. His name, Dave Spritz, sounds heckle-worthy. Dave's
ex-wife, Noreen (Hope Davis), is annoyed with him. His father (Michael
Caine) is an award-winning author who's never supported him. His teenage
daughter, Shelly (Gemmenne de la Pena), is overweight (a crime in the
movies). His son (Nicholas Hoult) misbehaves. And when viewers -- irate over
Dave's inaccurate forecasts -- spot him trudging down the street, they *****
things at him: milkshakes, soda, chicken nuggets. Were ''The Weather Man"
purely abut Dave's random victimization and the catharsis people feel in
harassing him, the movie would have touched on a weirdly unique cultural
phenomenon.

But Dave also has to deal with bad family news. Papa Spritz is dying, and
Noreen is seeing someone new. Dave doesn't do much about these developments.
He drives his father to the doctor. He enrolls Shelly in an archery class
that he winds up taking instead. He sits around with a blank look on his
face.

Dave is one of the most ineffectual characters ever to have an entire movie
built around him. It looked like the trend of crippling anomie in immature
American men (better known as ''emo") had reached its watershed at the
movies with ''Garden State" and died with ''Elizabethtown." Now it's
infecting wildly successful middle-age men, like Dave.

The film takes too many of its cues from Dave's depression. As it slogs on,
the movie's cloudiness starts to feel funereal, which is odd since writer
Steven Conrad aims for comedy, possibly even satire. The very best dialogue
is vulgar, as when Noreen explains to Dave why she was such a monotonous ***
partner for the duration of their marriage. That encounter feels bracing
because someone is actually being honest with Dave. Davis is good in these
reality-check parts, having played versions of them in ''About Schmidt" and
''Proof." I just worry that her indelicacy, however necessary it is, will
turn audiences against her.

But ''The Weather Man" needs more of her exasperation. The movie finds
Dave's malaise bittersweet and ironic. Never mind that he's a sad sack off
the air. His career rises anyway, like a let-go party balloon: He gets a job
offer to do the weather on a national show that Bryant Gumbel hosts.

Throughout ''The Weather Man" you wait for director Gore Verbinski (''The
Ring," ''Pirates of the Caribbean") to fill the movie's exquisite framing
with the emotional or psychological equivalent of Phedon Papamichael's
(''Sideways") cinematography. Instead, we get a vague movie that a few
successful but chronically dissatisfied men will be able to call their own.
The rest of us will see the film for what it is: a long, cold mumble from
the heart.

Wesley Morris can be reached at [email]wmorris@globe.com[/email]. *
©Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
*


barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk 28-10-2005 17.21.32

[OT] Re: We weatherpeople don't get any respect
 
In article <BF87F431.80211%evleth@wanadoo.fr>, [email]evleth@wanadoo.fr[/email] (Earl
Evleth) wrote:
[color=blue]
> ''The Weather Man" finds Nicolas Cage in a self-pitying mood.[/color]

Never!

He is superb in "Lord of War", BTW, a film I think you would enjoy, Earl.

----------------------------------------------
The poster formerly known as [email]barney@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email].

barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk 28-10-2005 17.21.32

[OT] Re: We weatherpeople don't get any respect
 
In article <BF87F431.80211%evleth@wanadoo.fr>, [email]evleth@wanadoo.fr[/email] (Earl
Evleth) wrote:
[color=blue]
> ''The Weather Man" finds Nicolas Cage in a self-pitying mood.[/color]

Never!

He is superb in "Lord of War", BTW, a film I think you would enjoy, Earl.

----------------------------------------------
The poster formerly known as [email]barney@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email].

barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk 28-10-2005 17.21.32

[OT] Re: We weatherpeople don't get any respect
 
In article <BF87F431.80211%evleth@wanadoo.fr>, [email]evleth@wanadoo.fr[/email] (Earl
Evleth) wrote:
[color=blue]
> ''The Weather Man" finds Nicolas Cage in a self-pitying mood.[/color]

Never!

He is superb in "Lord of War", BTW, a film I think you would enjoy, Earl.

----------------------------------------------
The poster formerly known as [email]barney@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email].

Martin 28-10-2005 17.28.22

Re: [OT] Re: We weatherpeople don't get any respect
 
On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 09:21:32 -0500, [email]barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
>In article <BF87F431.80211%evleth@wanadoo.fr>, [email]evleth@wanadoo.fr[/email] (Earl
>Evleth) wrote:
>[color=green]
>> ''The Weather Man" finds Nicolas Cage in a self-pitying mood.[/color]
>
>Never!
>
>He is superb in "Lord of War", BTW, a film I think you would enjoy, Earl.[/color]

Earl would enjoy the Downfall/Untergang for the Russian precipitation
if nothing else.
--
Martin

Martin 28-10-2005 17.28.22

Re: [OT] Re: We weatherpeople don't get any respect
 
On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 09:21:32 -0500, [email]barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
>In article <BF87F431.80211%evleth@wanadoo.fr>, [email]evleth@wanadoo.fr[/email] (Earl
>Evleth) wrote:
>[color=green]
>> ''The Weather Man" finds Nicolas Cage in a self-pitying mood.[/color]
>
>Never!
>
>He is superb in "Lord of War", BTW, a film I think you would enjoy, Earl.[/color]

Earl would enjoy the Downfall/Untergang for the Russian precipitation
if nothing else.
--
Martin

Martin 28-10-2005 17.28.22

Re: [OT] Re: We weatherpeople don't get any respect
 
On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 09:21:32 -0500, [email]barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
>In article <BF87F431.80211%evleth@wanadoo.fr>, [email]evleth@wanadoo.fr[/email] (Earl
>Evleth) wrote:
>[color=green]
>> ''The Weather Man" finds Nicolas Cage in a self-pitying mood.[/color]
>
>Never!
>
>He is superb in "Lord of War", BTW, a film I think you would enjoy, Earl.[/color]

Earl would enjoy the Downfall/Untergang for the Russian precipitation
if nothing else.
--
Martin

barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk 28-10-2005 19.30.12

Re: [OT] Re: We weatherpeople don't get any respect
 
In article <m9d4m11pbhd5g9vm3u6asj5t04cq9dac11@4ax.com>,
[email]martin@privacy.net[/email] (Martin) wrote:
[color=blue]
> *From:* Martin <martin@privacy.net>
> *Date:* Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:28:22 +0200
>
> On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 09:21:32 -0500, [email]barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email] wrote:
>[color=green]
> >In article <BF87F431.80211%evleth@wanadoo.fr>, [email]evleth@wanadoo.fr[/email] (Earl
> >Evleth) wrote:
> >[color=darkred]
> >> ''The Weather Man" finds Nicolas Cage in a self-pitying mood.[/color]
> >
> >Never!
> >
> >He is superb in "Lord of War", BTW, a film I think you would enjoy,[/color]
> Earl.
>
> Earl would enjoy the Downfall/Untergang for the Russian precipitation
> if nothing else.[/color]

I've heard he was sorely disappointed by "Rain Man", though.

----------------------------------------------
The poster formerly known as [email]barney@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email].

barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk 28-10-2005 19.30.12

Re: [OT] Re: We weatherpeople don't get any respect
 
In article <m9d4m11pbhd5g9vm3u6asj5t04cq9dac11@4ax.com>,
[email]martin@privacy.net[/email] (Martin) wrote:
[color=blue]
> *From:* Martin <martin@privacy.net>
> *Date:* Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:28:22 +0200
>
> On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 09:21:32 -0500, [email]barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email] wrote:
>[color=green]
> >In article <BF87F431.80211%evleth@wanadoo.fr>, [email]evleth@wanadoo.fr[/email] (Earl
> >Evleth) wrote:
> >[color=darkred]
> >> ''The Weather Man" finds Nicolas Cage in a self-pitying mood.[/color]
> >
> >Never!
> >
> >He is superb in "Lord of War", BTW, a film I think you would enjoy,[/color]
> Earl.
>
> Earl would enjoy the Downfall/Untergang for the Russian precipitation
> if nothing else.[/color]

I've heard he was sorely disappointed by "Rain Man", though.

----------------------------------------------
The poster formerly known as [email]barney@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email].

barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk 28-10-2005 19.30.12

Re: [OT] Re: We weatherpeople don't get any respect
 
In article <m9d4m11pbhd5g9vm3u6asj5t04cq9dac11@4ax.com>,
[email]martin@privacy.net[/email] (Martin) wrote:
[color=blue]
> *From:* Martin <martin@privacy.net>
> *Date:* Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:28:22 +0200
>
> On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 09:21:32 -0500, [email]barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email] wrote:
>[color=green]
> >In article <BF87F431.80211%evleth@wanadoo.fr>, [email]evleth@wanadoo.fr[/email] (Earl
> >Evleth) wrote:
> >[color=darkred]
> >> ''The Weather Man" finds Nicolas Cage in a self-pitying mood.[/color]
> >
> >Never!
> >
> >He is superb in "Lord of War", BTW, a film I think you would enjoy,[/color]
> Earl.
>
> Earl would enjoy the Downfall/Untergang for the Russian precipitation
> if nothing else.[/color]

I've heard he was sorely disappointed by "Rain Man", though.

----------------------------------------------
The poster formerly known as [email]barney@cix.compulink.co.uk[/email].


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