‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’ Review
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Lily Sheen, Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio, Neil Patrick Harris | Written by Tom Gormican, Kevin Etten | Directed by Tom Gormican
Nicolas Cage plays a tongue-in-cheek version of himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, a gleefully meta action comedy from co-writer / director Tom Gormican. Mining sizeable laughs from every aspect of the actor’s life, career and larger-than-life screen persona, it’s a must-see for Cage fans.
Struggling with his career prospects, his relationship with his teenage daughter (Lily Mo Sheen, daughter of Kate Beckinsale) and his massive hotel bill, actor Nick Cage (Cage) accepts the only offer his agent (Neil Patrick Harris) can produce: $1 million to appear at the birthday party of wealthy businessman Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal) in Mallorca.
On arrival, Javi turns out to be a mega-fan with a script he wants his idol to read, so he’s understandably dismayed when Cage announces he’s thinking of retiring. Things then take an action thriller turn when the FBI (Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz) inform Cage that Javi is a suspected arms dealer and kidnapper and they’d like him to both spy on his host and, if possible, find and rescue the missing daughter of a Spanish diplomat.
Cage is in good company when it comes to films in which cult actors play versions of themselves – previous examples include William Shatner in Free Enterprise, Bruce Campbell in My Name Is Bruce, Jean-Claude Van Damme in JCVD and, of course, John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich. As with those films, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent proves that Cage is both in on the joke and willing to indulge it, understanding that his distinctive brand of overacting can occasionally make wonderful moments out of terrible movies, e.g. his “Not the bees!” line delivery in The Wicker Man, just one of many such moments referenced here.
Throughout the film, the script has a lot of fun exploring exactly who Nicolas Cage is, and getting to the heart of his movie-star appeal. One particularly nice touch is that Cage also plays “Nicky”, an imaginary version of himself that he talks to sometimes, who looks like he’s leapt straight out of one of Cage’s 1990s movies and yells things like, “You’re a f**king movie star and don’t you forget it!” whenever Nick says that he’s an actor.
Needless to say, the film is packed to the gills with references to other Nic Cage movies, whether it’s lifted lines of dialogue, clips, action beats or the Partridge-esque reveal of Javi’s Cage shrine, complete with multiple props from the likes of Face/Off, Wild at Heart etc. Consequently, there’s a commendably high gag rate, with Gormican maintaining a strong pace throughout.
If there’s an issue, it’s only that the script isn’t especially generous to seasoned comic performers like Haddish, Barinholtz and Sharon Horgan (as Cage’s ex-wife), all of whom are given rather short shrift in the laughs department. Instead, the majority of the laughs go to Cage and Pascal, but it’s hard to complain when their unexpectedly sweet relationship ends up forming the emotional heart of the movie – their bonding scenes are truly delightful.
As a general rule, Nic Cage films can be divided into Good Cage movies (e.g. Adaptation), Bad Cage movies (the straight-to-DVD disappointments) and Good Bad Cage movies, where the movie is terrible but Cage’s wild performance still makes it worth watching. Happily, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent falls squarely in the Good Cage category, whilst fully aware that the Good Bad Cage designation is there as a safety net.
**** 4/5
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is in cinemas now.
