The Weather Man

Gore Verbinski’s “The Weatherman” takes a serio-comic look at the life of David Spritz (Nicholas Cage), a weatherman in Chicago who has just been granted an audition with Hello America, a national morning television show. Spritz is struggling to keep his personal life together, as he is hit with one crisis after another: his father (Michael Caine) is terminally ill, his marriage has ended, his daughter struggles with her self-image, his son is in rehab for smoking pot, and to top it all off people throw things at him. Chicken legs, Big Gulps, soft tacos, apple pies, or anything else they might have in their hands when they see him on the street.

The good: Nicholas Cage turns in a fine performance as Spritz, and Michael Caine is excellent as his Pulitzer Prize-winning father. In fact, the whole cast is good, including Spritz’s estranged wife, Noreen (Hope Davis,) and his two children, Mike (Nicholas Hoult) and Shelly (Gemmenne de la Peña). The script, at times, is well-written.

The bad: Unfortunately, this is a rather pointless, vulgar movie. Matt is pursued by one of his rehab counselors, who happens to be a pedophile. He has Matt take his shirt off and strike poses, and then attempts to engage in sodomy with him in his car.

Shelly is overweight and wears tight clothing. This leads to the other kids calling her a name that I can’t print or even explain. All I can say is that it has to do with a woman’s private area and overly tight clothing. I was offended that this word was used and repeated (many times) for shock value only. Spritz uses the “f” word in just about every other sentence.

Oral sex is discussed multiple times. One sex scene is extremely lewd.

Conclusion: “The Weatherman” is R-rated trash. It is a depressing look at a dysfunctional man and the completely dysfunctional world around him. It’s not funny. There was only one big laugh in my theater and that was for the word I can’t print. This is Hollywood entertainment at its worst. In my view, there is nothing redeeming about this movie at all. I urge Christians to keep their hearts and minds far from it.

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Extreme—“G*d d*mn” (2), “Jesus” (1), “God” (1), f-words (over 50), s-words (12), slang words of male and female anatomy, “a**h*le” (7), “cr*p” (2) / Sex/Nudity: Heavy to Extreme

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.