There’s no way that this movie could work, right? Everything about it reeks of the least cool people trying to be in on the joke. It’s a corporate Twitter account that’s trying to be funny. It’s a joke that a writer snuck into an episode turned into an entire movie. Nic Cage is a baffling actor. Good Nic Cage is almost indistinguishable from Bad Nic Cage in a movie. His willingness to try anything and how hard he goes at every performance makes it impossible to tell the difference between a movie he took because of financial trouble and one he chose for creative reasons. Then comes The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent: a Nic Cage movie about being Nic Cage in a Nic Cage movie. This movie is a 2-hour Rick-Roll. Even the title is desperate to make sure people know it’s in on the joke. This whole thing is too recursive to stand on its own…right?
While far from being a perfect movie, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent delivers exactly what it promises. It’s a movie about Hollywood actor Nic Cage trying to reestablish his reputation with a good starring role, but first he takes a million-dollar gig to appear at a superfan’s birthday party in Mallorca. That superfan is played by Pedro Pascal, who is living off billions of dollars in family money and might be tied into the criminal underworld. It’s the kind of movie real Nic Cage would make playing a character named Tex Midnight. That it’s a fictionalized version of himself is what makes this movie notable.
I barely understand the logistics of how this movie exists. Was it written specifically for Cage before he ever knew about it? Was he onboard when it was just a pitch, and his provisional agreement to do it is what paid for the screenplay to get written? It’s not like this could’ve been adapted to be about another star. It’s very entertaining that it does exist though. Would you believe it’s a perfect vehicle for Nic Cage? He gets to flex all of his acting muscles, really. There are big and small scenes. It’s an ideal movie for his career rehabilitation. It already felt like we’re close to a Cage-aissance. Recent films like Mandy and Pig have gotten praise. The general tone of the internet about Cage has turned favorable. I’ve even seen pieces defending his years in the wilderness with a lot of questionable roles. It’s highly reminiscent to Keanu Reeves and Matthew McConaughey in the early to mid-2010s. Massive Talent lets Cage own all the bad roles and remind the audience that he never really changed. The movie essentially says it’s OK to like Nic Cage.
Beyond the Nic Cage of it all, this is a reasonably enjoyable movie. I love how Pedro Pascal’s career right now is that once he removes the Mandalorian helmet, he’s a big goofball. If you blind pitched this movie too me, I would’ve imagined a John Leguizamo or Zach Galifianakis for this role. Pascal is a nice surprise pick. The rest of the cast are straight out of literally any random comedy movie from the last 5 years. Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz are some CIA agents who get involved with Cage. Sharon Horgan is Cage’s ex-wife (or maybe they’re just separated). A celebrity’s kid plays Cage’s daughter*. I liked Alessandra Mastronardi (who I mainly know from S2 of Master of None) showing up, although she doesn’t get much to do. No one is doing inspired work here – not even Cage – but, as they say, they all understood the assignment.
*It looks like that would be Lily Sheen, daughter of Martin Sheen and Kate Beckinsale. And she is perfectly fine in this role.
By all means The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent should be awful or at least too niche to be embraced by a wide audience. It works though. It’s not perfect. I don’t think there is a perfect kind of movie like this. The screenplay could be a little cleaner. Some of the humor is familiar or a little lazy. A 2-hr. version of this would’ve been interminable, so I appreciate the 1h47m runtime. I just fully enjoyed this movie. I never got the sense that they were holding back jokes that Cage wouldn’t allow. It’s an egoless performance and movie. I don’t need this to become a franchise, but I wouldn’t be against Cage doing something like this every few years. And it would be cool if this was a stepping stone to Cage getting another Oscar nomination a few years from now. Life imitating art, in a way.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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