I saw The Weatherman this afternoon and it was not too bad. One of the best things about the movie, from a personal point of view, were the scenes from my adopted hometown Chicago. The film contained numerous on-location shots throughout the Windy City from LaSalle Street to beneath the Lake Street el station to Lincoln Park to the Gold Coast area. The only drawback was the film's all too realistic depiction of the coldest part of winter in Chicago with the driving snow and chilling ice; a time of year that I am not looking forward to.
Nicholas Cage actually pulled off a great performance. Mr. Cage, as the title character, is at once sympathetic, frustrating, endearing and self-absorbed as a weatherman for a fictional television station that looks remarkably like WGN. The film depicts a man who suffers through what can be described as a mid-life crisis as he realizes that he has done no more than sleepwalk through life, yet has nonetheless been materially successful. In the end, the weatherman comes to accept his responsibilities to his children and to accept who he is (and who he is not).
I found the movie to be very satisfying and strangely uplifting. While it is very slow-paced and doesn't reach a neat, bow-tied resolution, The Weathman is also very engaging. It ends with the realization that life goes forward no matter what and that a successful life is one in which we accept the choices we've made and make the best of where those choices have led us.
I recommend this movie.
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