Local weather man David Spritz (Nicholas Cage) is on the verge of a breakdown. The citizenry that asks him for an autograph also throws fast food at him. The family he supports with his massive income also thinks he's a complete jerk - his kids don't listen to him, the woman he adores has left him, and his Pulitzer Prize-winning father (Michael Caine) thinks he's wasting his life.
But now David Spritz finally has a shot at the big time - a national news show which is looking for a new weather man, giving him the chance to finally pull together the disparate elements of his life.
The film's style is definitely one of its most debatable qualities. Long shots, tons of quiet moments, and subtle music all really give The Weather Man the feel of an independent movie very similar in style to American Beauty or Donnie Darko. Despite the fact this is a studio film produced big-name actors, director Gore Verbinski tries to keep the film subtle by adopting many indie-traits. Although some critics found it disingenuous, I personally feel it adds to the introspective nature of the movie.
But Steve Conrad's amazing script deserves most of the credit for the quality of the film; sub-plots, such as David's failed attempt at a novel, really flesh-out the characters' relationships. The novel itself isn't important to the story - it only gets mentioned in a handful of scenes - but every time it comes up the scene really explores David's conceptualization of himself.
Additionally, the well-woven plots are but one part of Conrad's script that shines. The dialogue makes each character so real that you can't help but attach yourself to them. For example, David gets into a heated argument with his ex-wife's boyfriend, his random, flustered swearing sounds the way people actually swear when they're trying to start a fight. Not only does the dialogue increase the comedy, but it also creates empathy with David and the other characters - since they talk like people we know, we become adapted to them.
On the downside, David's kids only seem to be used to emphasize the crappiness of David's life. An early scene involving Shelly buying cigarettes is structured as dark comedy, but falls completely flat. In fact, Shelly's whole plot seems abrupt, as if her scenes were edited for time, leaving behind fragments of a story that isn't quite resolved. We're supposed to believe that an obese 12-year-old girl's weight and smoking problems are solved by some extra attention and new clothes, but it never quite comes across.
But in the end, however, The Weather Man easily overcomes its flaws and makes for an enjoyable movie - one that will be sure to do better business on DVD than it did in theaters due to word-of-mouth. Even if it plays like an imitation of American Beauty and Donnie Darko, at least it plays like a good imitation of two good films.
Score: 8 out of 10 The Video
The Weather Man is presented in 1.85:1 format enhanced for widescreen 16:9 TVs. Overall, this transfer is decent, if not great. On the strong side is the balance of colors: In scenes such as the early scene involving Shelly learning archery, all the colors come off extremely bright and clear without any bleeding. There are plenty of reds throughout this movie, but they're always very balanced and never overcome adjacent colors. Furthermore, artifacts are virtually absent from this transfer.
At the same time, the same scene demonstrates the biggest problem with the transfer - grain. There's just a lot of noise throughout the picture. Characters in the foreground are slightly fuzzy and little facial details are lost. Meanwhile, the backgrounds in the outdoor scenes often become a mess of grain. It doesn't kill the movie - one could even attribute it to the mimicry of independent film styles, but it's still noticeable.
Score: 7 out of 10 The Audio Presentation
The Weather Man offers three audio options, English 5.1 Surround, English 2.0 Surround, and French 5.1 Surround. Sound here is decent, if not particularly exciting. This is a strongly dialogue- based film, so there aren't many places where you can test the surround track. The archery scenes offer some variety in terms of the arrow moving from one speaker to another, and it's decent enough.
However, there isn't much use of ambient noise. Many of the scenes are outdoors, yet the movie is extremely quiet and doesn't really feature the atmospheric sounds of a city like Chicago.
Additionally, English, Spanish, and French subtitles are available for hearing-impaired audiences.
Score: 7 out of 10
Packaging and Extras
The Weather Man comes on a single disc in the standard Amray case. There was no insert included with the review disc.
This release features the following extras:
- Featurette: "Extended Outlook: The Script"
- Featurette: "Forecast: Becoming a Weatherman"
- Featurette: "Atmospheric Pressure: The Style and Palette"
- Featurette: "Relative Humidity: The Characters"
- Featurette: "Trade Winds: The Collaboration"
- Trailer: "The Weather Man"
Most of these features are pretty self-explanatory - examining the creation of the script, the use of a weatherman as an advisor on set, the style of the film, the characters, and Gore Verbinski's collaboration with his crew. At the same time, these aren't the most in-depth or interesting of features. The majority of them are a little under five-minutes long and feature the same talking-heads praising the movie and the performances of each other.
Although they aren't awful, I feel like these features fall into the trap of selling a movie you've already bought - I want my features to enlighten me about the creation of a movie, not just tell me how great the movie is.
Score: 5 out of 10
