July 10th, 2009
Blayne Weaver
Blayne Weaver
Tricia O'Kelley, Patrick J. Adams, Ryan Devlin, Kaitlin Olson, Mark Harmon, Jon Cryer, Jane Lynch, Blair Underwood
Secret Identity Productions
Comedy, Romance
weathergirlmovie.com, facebook.com/weathergirlmovie
R language
review
The Weather Girl is just another in a long line of romantic arthouse comedies produced on the cheap. It has its flaws, but its heart is in the right place. Its funny; which is hard to master on a minuscule budget with a group of mostly unknown actors. There isn't anything particularly odd or interesting about this small film. It doesn't stand out in a crowd, but if you accidentally find yourself partaking in its honey drip-like ways, you'll probably leave the experience pleasantly surprised. Director Blayne Weaver isn't trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, he's simply giving his two lead actors a nice vanity piece to partake in. Tricia O'Kelley, best known as Marly on The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Patrick J. Adams enter into a slight, chastised May-June relationship that is far more relatable and believable than those odd courtships found in this week's other two age defying rom-coms Whatever Works and The Proposal. If you're going to spend your money on one of the three, this is definitely your best bet. Its fresh and clean, like sheets that have never been slept in.
Weaver, who also wrote the screenplay, knows his way around small town affiliate news stations and the Internet. His "high concept" idea never strays too far from reality, and things play out in a truthful manner. In less capable hands, this sorted material could have quickly spun out of control. Luckily, Blayne knows to keep his characters grounded, and he never lets the wacky situations spiral out of control. O'Kelly plays Sylvia, the "Sassy" weather girl on a local am news program headlined by Mark Harmon (as Dale) and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's very own Kaitlin Olson (as the dunder-headed Sherry). This holy trinity of local news talent is a bubbling cauldron of lies and deceit. The lid has stayed on far too long, and one fateful day, Sylvia decides to go off the rails on live TV.
Dale has been sleeping with his co-host Sherry. This is a problem because Dale and Sylvia have been going steady for at least eight years. O'Kelley is quite convincing as the aged and sloping weather bunny. Her on-camera meltdown isn't played for laughs. And it doesn't feel rehearsed or written by a team of people smarter than the character. In true form, Sylvia's new director lets the camera steam through the horrible things she has to say about her two co-hosts. It's a ratings grabber. After aiming a pair of Sherry's hot pink panties at the camera lens, Sylvia storms off stage never to be seen again. Having not seen the trailer, I thought things were going to go down a pre-written path of uncolored fame and unfortunate fortune. I thought Sylvia would become an internet sensation, and bank off her catty attitude. But no, Weaver doesn't feel like going down that road. Instead, he keeps the plot down to earth, offering our tiny shooting star a plethora of disappointing job opportunities and a healthy midlife crisis to chew on.
Sure, the clip of Sylvia berating her former lover on the air goes viral. People see it, and they laugh. But it doesn't sprinkle fairy dust on Sylvia's head and turn her into a renowned celebrity. Instead, it marks her with an ugly stigma that makes it nearly impossible for her to get another job. She soon becomes known as "The Sassy Girl", a moniker that irritates her to the core. Having lost her full time gig, she is forced to move into her younger brother's one bedroom apartment and take a job as a minimum wage waitress. People recognize her on the streets and at her new place of employment, but this gawking awe never leads to anything good. You can't help but feel bad for the girl. She's too old by industry standards, and she's well on her way to becoming that fat, toothless short order waitress we see usually see lingering around the truck stop bathroom.
Ryan Devlin plays Walt, Sylvia's younger brother. He is a kind, gentle soul that lets his best friend Byron (Patrick J. Adams) use his computer during the day, and lets his failed sister sleep on the couch at night. The brother-sister relationship is unique in its sweetness, with Devlin and O'Kelley aiming at a more natural bond. Adams' Byron comes into the picture as almost a background set piece. He literally goes through a butterfly metamorphosis in front of us. He's introduced as a featured extra, but soon moves up the ranks to leading man. We never think too much of him at first. He is always in the milieu while brother and sister argue. It becomes obvious that, despite their age differences, he has a little crush on Sylvia. The notion of them dating is ludicrous to our "Sassy" weather girl. That is, until she goes out on a date with Jon Cryer, and realizes she doesn't want a man her own age. Why? Because they are only interested in houses, and babies, and faithful wives. Soon, Sylvia and Byron are engaging in a sex-only affair. This being a romantic comedy, we know the blooming relationship will grow to mean more than just nasty love making on the couch.
Sylvia and Byron don't engage in the requisite Ebert-coined "meet cute". They actually get to know each other over the course of four long weeks. Weaver allows their relationship to grow in a very realistic environment. And it's quite believable. The inevitable does eventually happen. Sylvia is offered her old job back. Thus squashing Byron's attempts to tell Sylvia he actually, truly, deeply loves her. Everything seems lost, and it's a little sad. Mark Harmon does a nice job coming in off the rebound. He isn't playing Ron Burgundy or some other stilted news anchor caricature. Sure, he's an indulgent, self-centered cretin, it seems. Until he politely explodes on Sylvia, explaining quite proficiently the reasons he slept around on her. We believe him, and never view him as an evil presence. This all leads up to quite an excellent ending that, sure, we do see coming a mile away. But it's nice.
If the film has one major problem, it's that Blayne Weaver doesn't quite know how to direct his actors. He sometimes lets them go on past the edit point, maybe attempting to capture a more realistic vibe with the dialogue. This creates patches of dead air that are hard to sift through. At times, The Weather Girl looks like an amateur attempt at quality filmmaking. Luckily, it has enough unique emotional power to keep us vested through the truly shitty parts. The Weather Girl? It gets a slightly heightened "Whoop-doo!"
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