Weather Man, The

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine, Hope Davis, Nicholas Hoult

Director: Gore Verbinski

Almost unrelentingly depressing, this is a majorly feelbad movie.

A success as a TV weather man, Dave (Cage) is a failure at everything else. Short-fused and hyper, this Mr Angry ruins everything he touches. Even the snowball he playfully throws at his estranged wife (Davis) cracks her glasses. His children have massive problems, and his famous father (Caine) is dying.

Full of unpleasant characters, the film alienates you from the word Go, and almost none of it works. The running gag about people throwing things at Cage because he's the weather man is completely unbelievable, and the star himself is morose throughout the crude and very hard-cursing farrago.

It's supposed to be a comedy-drama, we think, but there are no laughs here. In fact, these weather forecasts are almost all troughs of depression with no sunny periods.

David Quinlan

USA 2004. UK Distributor: Momentum. Colour by De Luxe.
102 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 3.

Review date: 01 Jan 2007