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Chicago weatherman David Spritz (Nicolas Cage) is living the life most of us dream of: he's a celebrity, makes a six-figure salary working two hours a day, and is on the short list for the meteorologist job on a national morning show. But his professional successes are overshadowed by his personal failures. He's divorced from his wife, his kids are slipping away from him and even his Pulitzer Prize-winning father (Michael Caine) won't take him seriously. Part American Beauty, part About Schmidt, The Weather Man takes a closer look at living a meaningful life in a fast-food world.

Initially I was afraid that The Weather Man would be just like The Family Man, and not just in title. In the former, Nic Cage plays a man with a successful career and an unsuccessful family life. In the latter, Nic Cage plays a man with a successful career and no family life to speak of. The Family Man is about that successful business man realizing there is more to life than his career. And I was afraid I would get that same plot line here, but I didn't. Frankly, the story in The Weather Man was almost the exact opposite.

Nic Cage's character is a very good weatherman, but he feels that he doesn't make the people around him happy by being a weatherman, so he overcompensates until he alienates everyone in his life. He hardly knows his two children and struggles to find ways to relate to them. He tries to get back into his ex-wife's good graces, but always seems to screw things up. That made the movie frustrating to watch, but the part played to Cage's personality very well.

I read some reviews that praised Cage, but while I thought it was a good part for him, I was not blown away. The movie got progressively better and I think it ended very well and saved what could have been a trainwreck of a movie.

As it started out, the movie seemed to struggle within itself. Was it a light-hearted family story as the simplistic writing and short scenes suggested? Or was it a very perverse coming-of-age story with an older-than-usual protagonist where the only thing more prevalent than inappropriate adult situations were f-bombs? These were the two phases to the movie, essentially early and late. Once it moved away from that early phase, The Weather Man was easier to watch. It got better over time, but suffice to say that it isn't a movie I would recommend anyone take a family to see.

The Weather Man was a bizarre film, but that ended up being part of the attraction for me. I really liked analysis Cage's character did on himself and there were maybe a small handful of scenes where the writing and direction teetered near genius (primarily the whole inclusion of archery). The movie was flawed -- I won't try to deny that -- but all in all I found it a positive viewing experience. However, I have a hard time seeing anyone liking this movie except 20- 30-something males who are looking for a change-of-pace movie.

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