Blame it on The Weatherman

Right, time for another up-to-the-minute, expert movie review. This time it's the Nic Cage flick The Weatherman. Singer-songwriter Jesse Malins, whose main claim to fame is being mates with Ryan Adams, once told me in an interview that Nicolas Cage is, "a dick."

Perhaps he is, perhaps Malins was just trying to drum up publicity for his latest album. If so, it didn't work, my interview never made it into print. Either way, Cage has made some fine movies and I was drawn to The Weatherman by a trailer that made the film look both funny and intelligent.

Of course, you can't always trust a trailer and shortly after putting the DVD on I felt like I had been duped. The Weatherman starts really slowly. Nic plays Dave Spritz, a put-apon divorcee dad, trying desperately to prove himself to his ex-wife, his kids and his own successful but aloof father.

He has an easy, well paid job reading the Weather and he's looking for a promotion but he still feels unable to measure up in the eyes of his dying father. There aren't too many laughs at the start, nor anything else to hook you in really. I was beginning to think that this was another comedy trying to be clever and arty to cover up a lack of funny material.

However, as a series of indignities build up against Cage, you begin to root for this awkward underdog, delighting as he makes an emotional connection with his daughter, or beats up the predatory creep who's been preying on his son. The core of this film is the relationship between Spritz and his terminally ill father. Michael Caine is excellent as the emotionally remote father whose constant criticisms mask a deep affection for his son. The laughs come too, as Spritz messes up time and again but this is an emotional film, not a cornball comedy and it is affecting without being melodramatic.