Underrated Nicolas Cage Movie On Streaming Is A Midlife Crisis Worth Watching
While the cover for Nicolas Cage’s The Weather Man may lead you to believe that you’re about to get into a plot about a disgruntled news personality who goes on a rampage through downtown Chicago with a crossbow, you’d be gravely mistaken in your assumption. Sure, there’s a sub-plot involving archery that gets explored during the film’s third act, but The Weather Man actually tells a heartfelt story about a man who becomes an outsider to his own family after a tumultuous divorce while trying to reclaim his dignity as he experiences a mid-life crisis. Through Cage’s exploration of middle-aged male isolation, he becomes a sympathetic character as he tries to pick up the pieces.
Nicolas Cage & The Spritz Nippers
Nicolas Cage portrays David Spritz in The Weather Man, and his high-paying (and extremely easy) job doesn’t exactly give him the kind of celebrity status any reasonable human being would enjoy. Known for coining the term “the Spritz Nipper,” which refers to the coldest day in the weekly forecast, David isn’t a meteorologist himself and often has to deal with the public backlash when the forecast information he’s given is incorrect. More often than not, he gets pelted with fast food items whenever he’s seen in public, causing him to put walls up whenever an actual fan encounters him and asks him what the Nipper will be during any given week.
A Life In Shambles
Being treated like a local celebrity novelty item isn’t the main source of conflict in Nicolas Cage’s The Weather Man, however, as he’s recently divorced and doesn’t even have anybody to go home to after a hard day’s harassment. Living in an apartment by himself, what truly pains David is that his wife, Noreen (Hope Davis), has already found a new partner in Russ (Michael Rispoli), who quickly becomes the new father figure to his children, Mike (Nicholas Hoult) and Shelly (Gemmenne de la Peña). Shelly gets bullied at school and has taken to shop-lifting, and Mike’s relationship with his counselor, Don Bowden (Gil Bellows), seems problematic, but David isn’t close enough to his family to put his finger on why.
Cage & Caine’s Chemistry
If you didn’t think things could get any worse for Nicolas Cage in The Weather Man, there’s one more crucial plot point that needs to be brought up. David Spritz’s full name is David Spritzel, but he shortened it to Spritz so people wouldn’t associate his low-level celebrity status with that of his father, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author named Robert Spritzel (Michael Caine).
Commanding no respect from his own family, and living in the shadow of his father’s success, David learns early on that Robert is dying of lymphoma, and the combined cocktail of occupational and familial distress sends David into a downward spiral of depression that he may not recover from.
Cloudy With A Chance Of Apple Pie
While The Weather Man certainly sounds like one of Nicolas Cage’s darker roles, it’s actually not all doom and gloom. While David’s life continues to unravel, he gets the job offer of a life time from Hello America, a national talk show that operates out of New York City. Making earnest attempts to reconnect with his children, while simultaneously making peace with his failed marriage and soon-to-be-deceased father, David slowly reclaims his life while getting pummeled with McDonald’s Apple Pies and Wendy’s Frosty beverages whenever he steps outside.
A Sympathetic Take On Male Loneliness
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Nicolas Cage delivers one of his best dramatic performances in The Weather Man because he convincingly portrays a man who has to decide whether he wants to settle with losing everything from his past life, or put his head down and do his best to move forward while creating a new one. Through his many conflicts that test his will and push him to his breaking point, David earnestly tries to do right by his family while also realizing that he is slowly being replaced. As he experiences his many ups and downs, his cynical sense of humor about his current place in life will keep you laughing at moments that are so depressing that you can’t help but root for the guy and hope he finds peace.
As of this writing, you can stream The Weather Man on Fubo and Paramount+, or purchase the title on demand through Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and Fandango At Home, among others.
