Weather Girl

I attended a screening of Blayne Weaver's "Weather Girl" at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival. It had premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in January and was one of those "buzz films" here.

Tricia O'Kelley stars a Seattle morning show's "sassy weather girl" who has an over-the-top, painfully funny on-air meltdown over her cheating boyfriend, the show's despicable co-anchor (the always-reliable Mark Harmon, "NCIS'" Agent Gibbs). Out of work, out of love, and homeless, she needs to pick up the pieces and start a new life. That begins with a knock on the door of her brother Walt's bachelor apartment (Ryan Devlin), where his best friend Byron (Patrick J. Adams) seems to have taken up permanent residence. Jon Cryer, Jane Lynch, and Blair Underwood are among other notables in the cast.

Although it's an indie, "Weather Girl" has the polished look of a Hollywood movie with top quality production values and cinematography that takes full advantage of its breathtaking Seattle location. But this is clearly a character-driven film where all the protagonists have their flaws and the villains simply cannot redeem themselves. There is a great deal of visual humor -- sight gags abound and facial expressions often are the jokes in themselves. The plot is somewhat formulaic, though, and we know where this is going right from the start. But even though we've seen this story before it is still entertaining and occasionally laugh out loud funny.

Writer/director Blayne Weaver, cast, and crew were present for a hilarious Q&A after the screening which rivaled the comedy in the movie.

Just a note: the picture was annoyingly dark. Generally I'd attribute this to poor projection on the part of the theater or a bad print (or digital copy) before I'd blame the post-production team. It definitely took away from my enjoyment of the film and I hope that's not the way the public will see it in the future.

This is a cute if slightly edgy romantic comedy. I think we all want to root for Sylvia. And Tricia O'Kelley is pleasant enough, when she is not going nuts.

Fans of "The Mick" or even "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" might be disappointed that Kaitlin Olson has such a small role, or that she's not nearly as likable here as she is in those shows. Sherry is either too perky, too boring (when she and Dale apologize for their co-worker's rant), too terrified or too nuts. The fact is the role of Sylvia seems to have been written for Olson. O'Kelley's delivery in many scenes appears very much like Mickey on "The Mick", including some personality quirks. I'm thinking particularly about what could be described as a stammer. O'Kelley is prettier, but it is Olson's personality that she seems to be giving us.

Mark Harmon gives us both conceited perfect anchor, a common stereotype, and a somewhat appealing character who we're really not supposed to like. I know he's respected, but I'm not sure he is in a role worthy of his talent.

I don't know who Patrick Adams is. I guess we're supposed to like him. I do find myself rooting for him but I'm not sure why.

Jane Lynch isn't as evil as her award-winning Sue Sylvester, but she's bad enough. Meaning good enough.

I don't know the names of Sylvia's potential bosses, but several of them really stand out. Great performances, for the material.

It's worth seeing.

I have often wondered what a movie peppered with sitcom stars (who work WAY harder than "serious" ones) would be like. Now I know. It's GREAT!

Containing stars from series like "Two And A Half Men" and "The New Adventures Of Old Christine" (and starring one of the snobby duo from the latter) this movie is better acted than most "rom-coms" that inhabit mainstream cinema today.

And while any movie that is written and directed by the same person should ring alarm bells - there are exceptions. And "Weather Girl" is definitely one of them.

It is a damn shame this movie got so little exposure in the theatres - but if it pops up on telly or you see it down at your local video-hire shop, check it out.

Okay, it's no "When Harry Met Sally" - but it will entertain you WAY more than a lot of the tosh that masquerades as cinematic entertainment these days.

Tricia O'Kelley is our sassy weather girl, Sylvia, except she insists she's not sassy, she just has boyfriend problems and now employment problems giving way to the numerous emotional issues which our heroine explores in this romantic comedy.

Sylvia is a fantastic romantic comedy heroine. Sure, she's slightly desperate for a boyfriend but when her job opportunities disappear, she does the responsible thing and finds a temporary solution, as a waitress. She retains just enough optimism peeking out of the many hysterical breakdowns, that watching her is a joyful experience. We have two leading men, both extremely attractive and even better, their many moments of humour are priceless. Walt (Ryan Devlin) is Sylvia's younger brother and he puts up with all her neuroses because of brotherly love. Byron (Patrick J. Adams) is Walt's best friend, he also puts up with Sylvia's many neuroses, but out of a more carnal love.

This film succeeds because young career women can relate to Sylvia's problems unlike the similar "Morning Glory" (2010), and every actor aptly delivers the comedy (unlike most big budget comedies). It's well written and knows its genre well playing up most of the formulaic elements on purpose but without any of the hackneyed details. "Weather Girl" is definitely a great romantic comedy because it's absolutely hilarious from beginning to end with just a hint of self-awareness.

I just saw this movie at a screening in Sonoma and was wonderfully surprised. I might be a bit biased because I am a fan of romantic comedies and movies in general, but this was a good movie. At times, the movie itself seems to be poking fun at romantic comedies with how it handles some situations and some of the lines.

The tag/plot from the main IMDb page gives a great overview of the plot: A Seattle weather girl freaks out on-air over her cheating boyfriend, the morning show anchor, and moves in with her little brother. This does not give the movie away. The depth of the story is not usually found in romantic comedies. There is more to this movie than girl meets boy. All of the casting is wonderful. The only issue I had was with Byron and Walt, for some reason I thought the actors should have been switched. By the end of the movie I disregarded this because both of them develop into their roles.

This is one of those movies that is great if you are a movie lover (and some TV) because there are so many great actors in it. Almost every scene there is another actor/actress where you think to yourself 'where have I seen them before?' or 'oh, I love them'. I do have to agree with another reviewer on here that the movie is a little dark, not film noir dark but actually screen dark. I am guessing that is the theater I saw it in (a classic old one that is not set up for digital projection). I gave it a 9/10 because I have only seen it once. I reserve 10/10 for after the second viewing, if I still feel the same way about it it gets another star.