Now, when Savvy D and I sat down to watch a show tonight- we were leaning towards bad ABC Family movies, Rock of Love (Season 1!), or anything that looked like a promising train wreck. (My First Wedding looked promising…)
But then I saw Weather Girl with Mark Harmon and we both squealed- and yes, squeal is the appropriate word- and selected the promisingly horrible movie. Because while I loved him as President of the United States in Chasing Liberty and am a huge fan of his NCIS Leroy Jethro Gibbs- I also saw Summer School. (Full Disclosure)
And sure enough- Mark Harmon was the villain of the Indie rom-com who was a vile “walking haircut” who had a horrible dye job and what was probably a wig of some sort and the entire time was like watching my beloved Gibbs after a lobotomy gone wrong…
And yes, it’s true: watching a beautiful 42 Tricia O’Kelly play a 35 year old weather girl who just found out her anchorman boyfriend of two years is sleeping with his co-anchor was a little awkward. But no more awkward than watching her make out with someone half her age who I could never quite figure out if was cute or had an unfortunate haircut.
But this still is a surprising find of a movie. Written and Directed by Blayne Weaver, the movie peaks in the first five minutes where “sassy weather girl Sylvia” flips her shit on live television because she can’t help it due to her - as her younger brother, Walt, puts it- “love of conflict”.
She ends up crashing on the couch, having to take a job as a waitress to make ends meet, and of course, dealing with starting over.
And despite the horrible, horrible lighting- dear god, people instead of paying Mark Harmon for this unnecessary role- couldn’t you have sprung for lights? Hallways, restaurants, and especially the apartment of Walt- all were so bad I could barely tell the love interest from the brother most scenes.
However, I am fully supportive of said brother and said love interest to get their own show because they had a wonderful chemistry. O’Kelly was fun as a big sister figure who fit in quite well despite her neurotic behavior and who was determined to survive and my favorite moment of all three came from having them lying on a bed staring up with O’Kelly sandwiched in between them, flipped, and carrying on a random conversation that could have happened in any room in any town right now.
And though this was written and directed by a male- I could tell the director/writer gave his lead the space to develop her character as a woman with flaws. In my experience, most creative men do not understand how to allow female characters to develop in this vein because they are usually unable to round them out of stereotypes. You know the ones I’m talking about.
Such as the two friends of said heroine. They quickly developed a Greek chorus of judgment, distance, and bickering. At first, I found them funny just as at first I found the love interest odd, the ex a disgusting lothario, and the city depressing- but as Sylivia grew through her trials and tribulations- so did her perspective of her fellows. Her friends went to harpies-refusing to allow her to grow any way but theirs: the typical married with kids- young love interest went to refreshing and liberating hotness (I’m going to give him the weak chin for the gorgeous eyes and beautiful arms) and Mark Harmon went to magnetic and compelling and then right back to being a “walking haircut”.
O’Kelly may have not been my first choice for the role and I am still somehow shocked that the man who brought us Losing Lois Lane also brought us Weather Girl. But in the funniest scene of the movie- the two young men team up to prevent Sylvia to answer the door to her blind date- an accountant named Charles (again- written by a man). Her brother literally picks her up while love interest opens the door to haze the non Charlie Sheen brother from Two and a Half Men. The two work effortlessly against the beleaguered Sylvia and to whom poor Charles can’t help but try and join in with despite his age. Honestly, Weaver seems to settle quite firmly in his stereotypical view of middle age men. It is interesting to think the man who has taken over the voice of Disney’s Peter Pan seems to take such a strong negative view on his older men….
And yes- the word pussy is dropped like pennies by the men in the movie but hey, their easy joy at being allowed to be men is catching. So, go ahead fellows, say pussy magnet. I know you love it.
But soundtrack man- there was no need to underscore the sad traditional rom-com distance montage. I would have preferred the editor splicing together various images as phrases and conversations drifted through the foreground. This is too much of an indie film for random scoring- please use a different approach.
It’s a fun, easy movie that has some great moments by the young male actors who the writer/director not only understood but allowed to flow. Happily, O’Kelly holds her own and turns it to her advantage.
After all, it’s not easy being the woman who falls in love with your brother’s best friend who is 6 years your junior and end up being hired by Jane Lynch as a waitress in a Seattle restaurant where your spur of the moment actions are once again recorded and shared via the wonderful web-
Only to have you return back to your high paying station to find the co-anchor “squeaky bitch” has been dumped and is a now a raging alcoholic and fired. And guess who gets her job? Sassy Weather Girl!
The moral of this story is that this is a basic romantic comedy- it follows the lines of Apatow’s work- where it plays with the ridicule and exaggerated flaws of its character. And while I feel the end is rushed and could have been a bit less of a moral story about how to grow up to be who you are as opposed to whom think you want to be- I still enjoyed it.
But we both really wanted to give them some money for lighting. So many shadows. I will never fail to value the perfectly lit screen in a dark room during a romantic candlelit dinner ever again. Congrats, Weather Girl, you just convinced me to let that illusion be.
So, while I’m not sure anyone but someone looking for a fun, quick rom-com would enjoy this little flick- I’d recommend it to people interested in independent films that strive to grow and reach mass audiences while still being its own unique self.
And if you’re a comic book fan- writer/director has Losing Lois Lane on his website for you to spend some random afternoon time on. I laughed once or twice but it’s mostly a comic book boy-man short.
But hey, if you want to watch a woman with decent comedic timing shuffle through their own yoyo of life and watch two young actors who could easily become comedic leading men- try Weather Girl.
But mostly if you have streaming Netflix and need a good recommendation.
Best Moment of the Film-
“Squeaky Bitch” Strikes Back—
I know it doesn’t seem hysterical in print but you have got to watch Sherri’s drunken impression- you can tell Sherri would have done just fine as Sylvia but was just as satisfied stealing the scene she is in.
“Hey want to see my impression of Sylvia?... Hi, I’m Sylvia.I have a psychotic episode on life television. I use some terrible, foul language and describe a sex act on a morning TV show... I’m very, very mean to stupid Sherri and I call her really hurtful names which just might remind her of some stuff from childhood… And then when sweeps come around I take her job and then this is my favorite one- the man I emasculated in front of a million Seattleites starts wanting me back. ..How the fuck does that happen?- It doesn’t make any sense…Unless I’m being punished by a god…Ohhhhhhh, do you guys think God’s mad at me?”
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