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The Weather Man
This is another film where Nicholas Cage plays, Nicholas Cage. He doesn't really have to act much in this role and it ends up being like a lot of his other roles, the difference is that this role could have been written for Nicholas Cage, so it works decently well. The story is somewhat interesting, but not as engaging as it should be.
It tries to be a very dark comedy surrounding Nicholas Cage's character, the weather man, but it ends up being so over explained that it lacks any of the punch that it could and should have had as a dark comedy. The biggest flaw with this film is the use of voice over. Voice over to set up some things, or briefly lead into a flashback about the past is fine, but this film relies on it as the medium for telling the story more then what is actually going on in the scenes either in dialog or visually. The voice over had to over explain what was going on in the film so often, that it definitely got grating as the film went on.
It also tries to be a deep film, this again comes back to the voice over, where it tries and explain what Nicholas Cage's character is going through, but it relies only on voice over to try and add some depth, and it doesn't have any really profound moment in the film where everything is clear as to what it is trying to say. The closest it has would be this quote towards the end:
But it is more of just a blip on the radar of the film then anything. The film doesn't seem to be leading up to this point, and once it hits that point, it just sort of returns to its mundane story.
The acting in this film is solid. The two kids do surprisingly good jobs, and as I said at the beginning this is a role where Nicholas Cage playing Nicholas Cage can work. The side characters are generally only average, and even Cage is only solid playing himself. Michael Caine is probably the highlight for acting in this film, and even his character lacks what would be called very good acting.
Overall this was a film that tries so hard to be darkly funny but it feels at times like it is talking down to the audience because it tries to explain everything that is going on. It would work much better to just let the jokes run without the gimmicky explinations for them, and if goes over some peoples heads, that is fine, it is better then taking it down so it isn't funny for anyone.
Overall Grade: C+
Story: C+
Acting: B
Audio/Visual: B-
This is another film where Nicholas Cage plays, Nicholas Cage. He doesn't really have to act much in this role and it ends up being like a lot of his other roles, the difference is that this role could have been written for Nicholas Cage, so it works decently well. The story is somewhat interesting, but not as engaging as it should be.
It tries to be a very dark comedy surrounding Nicholas Cage's character, the weather man, but it ends up being so over explained that it lacks any of the punch that it could and should have had as a dark comedy. The biggest flaw with this film is the use of voice over. Voice over to set up some things, or briefly lead into a flashback about the past is fine, but this film relies on it as the medium for telling the story more then what is actually going on in the scenes either in dialog or visually. The voice over had to over explain what was going on in the film so often, that it definitely got grating as the film went on.
It also tries to be a deep film, this again comes back to the voice over, where it tries and explain what Nicholas Cage's character is going through, but it relies only on voice over to try and add some depth, and it doesn't have any really profound moment in the film where everything is clear as to what it is trying to say. The closest it has would be this quote towards the end:
Originally Posted by Dave Spritz
I remember once imagining what my life would be like, what I'd be like. I pictured having all these qualities, strong positive qualities that people could pick up on from across the room. But as time passed, few ever became any qualities that I actually had. And all the possibilities I faced and the sorts of people I could be, all of them got reduced every year to fewer and fewer. Until finally they got reduced to one, to who I am. And that's who I am, the weather man.
The acting in this film is solid. The two kids do surprisingly good jobs, and as I said at the beginning this is a role where Nicholas Cage playing Nicholas Cage can work. The side characters are generally only average, and even Cage is only solid playing himself. Michael Caine is probably the highlight for acting in this film, and even his character lacks what would be called very good acting.
Overall this was a film that tries so hard to be darkly funny but it feels at times like it is talking down to the audience because it tries to explain everything that is going on. It would work much better to just let the jokes run without the gimmicky explinations for them, and if goes over some peoples heads, that is fine, it is better then taking it down so it isn't funny for anyone.
Overall Grade: C+
Story: C+
Acting: B
Audio/Visual: B-