by Victoria Alexander
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Zero charisma between Edgar-Jones and Powell. Edgar-Jones doesn’t even give Hollywood’s newest sexy heartthrob a look. Fragile Edgar-Jones single-handedly saves a town from disaster as limping Powell stays safe in a shelter. The writer and director are to blame for a dull, silly romance.
Why do people live in tornado states? I researched it and found out that tornadoes are rare occurrences. People who cannot afford to buy houses go to Tornado Alley, where houses are much cheaper. Also, 60-90% of Tornado Alley has never been hit by a tornado. You can live in Tornado Alley and go your whole life without seeing one.
It’s tornado season and Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her high school team are going to try her theory on how to crush a tornado. They get too close and three of Kate’s team, and her boyfriend, are blown into the tornado. Kate and the team’s coordinator, Javi (Anthony Ramos), live.
Then we jump five years and Kate is a weather analyst in New York City. She is still missing a personality. Kate runs into Javi who is richly funded chasing tornadoes for research and asks her to join his team for one week.
Kate joins Javi and they are not the only team tornado hunting. It’s like Coachella with wind and rain. Along comes the hottest guy, Tyler (Glen Powell), and his rowdy team, that includes two young women and a few guys. He has bravado and a website with lots of fans. He has his face on a t-shirt. He smiles a lot. Tyler is the best-looking guy around. He’s got a big personality.
Javi and Tyler are both mesmerized with Kate’s psychic link to Mother Tornado. Javi is lovesick for Kate. She is not interested. Tyler tries to talk to her, but Kate barely looks at him.
How peculiar is Kate? Any other female would be curious. Who the hell is that great looking, flashy guy? Like all the members of the teams, Tyler is a risk junkie. The adrenaline is a sexual rush for tornado chasers but not for Kate. Kate is a wooden – or rather – a self-possessed woman.
Is Kate still grieving the loss of her friends and her boyfriend who was covering her body when he got pulled away into the tornado?
Any other woman in Kate’s position would have sought out Tyler’s friends Lily (Sasha Lane) or Dani (Katy O’Brian) for the lowdown on Tyler. Is he married, does he have a girlfriend, does he have sex with his fans, have a real job and where does he live?
Underneath Tyler’s showy demeanor is a serious dude whose mission is warning people about the tornado’s path to them. Those t-shirts pay for free meals his team gives people. He is a good guy.
Then Kate founds out Javi is collecting tornado data so his employers can buy up destroyed land cheaply. Just like in real life: When the catastrophic fires decimated the town of Lahaina in Maui in 2023, predatory developers and wealthy individuals descended upon the island. The devastation became a financial opportunity for rich people to grab land cheap from the fire’s survivors.
Oracle’s Larry Ellison owns 98% of the island of Lanai. Oprah Winfrey owns extensive properties on the island of Maui. PayPal's founder Peter Thiel has a home in Makena, southwest Maui, roughly 10 miles away from the fires. Amazon's Jeff Bezos brought an estate for $78 million, and the fires burned less than 20 miles away in South Maui.
Kate is furious Javi is helping developers buy tornado disaster land and takes his truck to visit her mother, Cathy (Maura Tierney). Tyler turns up and immediately Cathy, not only invites Tyler to dinner, she asks him to spend the night in the spare bedroom. Kate is still not impressed with the 5’11” or 6’or 6’1” athletic, handsome man.
Of course, the tornadoes are fantastic but too bad Kate doesn’t like Tyler because he delivers a great first date – a rodeo and then a run from a tornado!
The director, Lee Isaac Chung, and the screenwriter, Mark L. Smith, leave all the supporting actors as extras. Edgar-Jones is too passive to enjoy the thrill of tornado chasing and that falls to Chung. Powell, knowing he was the best-looking guy on set, failed to realize his co-star, and his co-star’s character, wasn’t interested in acknowledging his sex appeal.
And this absurd romance ends with Kate, Tyler and Javi all working together! Maybe Tyler can get Javi interested in him.
The ALL is Mind; The Universe is Mental.”
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Member of Las Vegas Film Critics Society
Personal email: victoria.alexander.lv@gmail.com
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