Movie Note

Last night my wife and I went to see a movie.

We spent $17 bucks plus snack money to see "The Weatherman" starring Nicholas Cage and Michael Cane. This movie-going experience reminded me of why I wait for the video release on movies like this. My standard rule is to see movies on the big screen that are enhanced by the size of the screen and the quality of the sound system, movies like action adventure, sci-fi, LOTR like movies, epics, etc. This movie would have been the same watching it on the screen of a PSP.

This movie is not going anywhere on my list of favorites. Quirky, foul, odd, numb, directionless, Godless, and lacking a decent plot. The f-bomb was a bigger star in the movie than Mr. Cage. There was an occasional chuckle, but not enough to list this as a comedy. I have always enjoyed Nicholas Cage movies and he is the reason we chose to see this one. In the future he will not be the deciding factor on the movies we choose to see.

The story is about a man (Nicholas Cage) who is lost and lonely in life. He is a successful weatherman at a Chicago TV station, divorced and seemingly unattached to his kids. He desires to have the life he thinks he deserves; a good job, a perfect family, the respect of his father (Michael Cane), and a white picket fence. Throughout the movie he tries to deal with his failure as a husband and father, his life as a public figure, and his relationship with his father, all while courting with a national network for a job on Bryant Gumbel's early morning show.

Never does he look to God for answers, only to himself, his earthly father, and his bow and arrow. The archery aspect of the movie is interesting and quirky but really comes off as a substitute for true answers to the meaning of his life. Usually in a movie like this God gets a gratuitous mention, but this movie He is obviously absent.

When the movie ended I could only feel sadness for this guy, some sympathy, but mostly sadness. It is almost as if he ended where he began, unhappy and directionless. The situations in his life has changed but the meaning stayed the same. The only thing that he resolves is that he is a weatherman and he is okay with that. In his closing statement he states that he is satisfied that he is behind Bryant Gumbel yet ahead of SpongeBob.

Next comes Narnia. A movie that is essential to see in the theater and a movie that is sure to contain more meaning than a high paying job and being ahead of SpongeBob on the food chain.