Dave Spritz (Nicolas Cage), a weatherman without meteorological qualifications in Chicago, is confronted with his own rage that life hasn't proceeded as he had planned. A successful and talented man, Dave finds it difficult to see his own talent because he compares himself with his Pulitzer winning, distant father Robert (Michael Caine). Robert won the award when he was 33 years old. Robert is undergoing medical tests but while he gets Dave to drive to the doctor's appointments, he doesn't allow Dave to attend the appointments and keeps the whole diagnosis and follow-up secret from him. Not to mention that "fans" delight in recognizing him on the street and throwing food at him. Dave suspects, because they're resentful of how easy his high-paying job is. Dave makes $240,000 a year for 2 hours of work every day. He makes money with public appearances as well. People expect that since Dave is on TV and is a public figure, so he has a moral duty to oblige them with autographs and photographs, as requested. The other problems in his life, an angry ex-wife Noreen (Hope Davis), a daughter Shelly (Gemmenne De La Pena) bullied at school and a son Mike (Nicholas Hoult) just leaving rehab don't help. Don Bowden (Gil Bellows) is a counselor at Mike's school. Don is showing too much interest in Mike. Don takes Mike out for a movie. And Dave would really rather just think about sex. The situation worsens when Robert is diagnosed with Lymphoma and given only a few months to live. Dave tries to connect with Shelly but taking her to a parent-child ice skating potato sack race at the public skating rink. Dave finds cigarettes in Shelly's backpack and realizes that she might still be addicted. Dave pushes Shelly to finish the race, even though she tangles her foot in the sack and falls to the ground. Shelly ends up damaging the tendons in her leg. Robert makes Dave realize that Shelly wears tight fitting clothes and is hence teased as "Camel Toe" by her colleagues at school. Dave wants to reconcile with Noreen and work out issues between them, but she is already seeing Russ. Dave doesn't like Russ interfering in matters concerning Dave's children. Dave and Noreen attend a trust building session, but Dave reacts badly to Noreen's criticism of his science fiction novel, and Noreen decides that Dave has not changed at all. Noreen tells Dave that she hates him and that they can never be back together again. As he becomes more and more depressed, Dave takes up archery, finding the activity a way to build his focus and calm his nerves. Dave was introduced to archery when Shelly took it up as a hobby. After spending $170 on equipment and purchasing a 5-class lesson plan, Shelly gives up the hobby after a single class as she can't get hold of the bow. Dave returns to the range to take up the remaining lessons. Dave gets better at archery and feels a little good about himself. Dave uses what he learned to teach Shelly archery all over again. Shelly says that she is not interested in archery and only wanted to try archery as she wanted to hunt animals. Meanwhile, Don takes Mike to his home, and Don seduces Mike into taking his clothes off on the pretext of taking some modeling photos of Mike. To prove himself to his father and possibly reconcile with Noreen, his estranged wife, Dave pursues a weatherman position with a national talk show called Hello America. The job would nearly quadruple his salary but means relocating to New York City. When Hello America invites him to New York, he takes his daughter with him and bonds with her by helping her shop for a more suitable wardrobe that hides her camel toe. Shelly says that she knows she is called Camel Toe at school. She believes that camel toes are tough, as camels roam all over the desert. This means her colleagues see Shelly as tough, and she likes that. While away, Dave learns that his son attacked his counselor Don, claiming that the man wanted to perform oral sex on him. Don claims that Mike tried to steal his wallet and they were only having an argument. Noreen is no help as she strongly indicates that Dave is an absentee dad, and the only reason Mike is in this trouble is because Dave does not pay any attention to him. Despite this stress and an all-night drinking binge, Dave impresses the Hello America interviewers and is eventually offered the job. The job pays $1.2 million including all the perks and bonuses. When he returns, Dave slaps Russ (Michael Rispoli), Noreen's boyfriend, when he finds him dealing with his son's predicament. Dave later confronts the counselor at his home, beating him up and warning him that he is in store for worse. The family holds a living funeral for Robert, in which Dave asks Noreen to reconcile and move to New York, but she has decided to marry Russ. Dave blames Russ for Noreen's refusal to try things again with him. He takes out his bow and arrow from the car trunk and takes aim at Russ when he comes out of the funeral for a smoke. But Dave does not shoot the arrow. But his stunt is noticed by Noreen and Robert. Dave delivers his eulogy at Robert's living funeral, but he is interrupted when the power goes out. It returns after 40 minutes, but by then everyone forgot that he was delivering his eulogy. Dave and Robert have one final talk, in which Dave breaks down in tears, unsure of his life's choices. Robert consoles him, telling him that he has time to "chuck" the garbage of his life. Robert dies soon after. Several months later, Dave has accepted the job and moved to New York. People have ceased throwing things at him though, he muses, this may be a pleasant side-effect of his archery hobby, for which he carries a bow.
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