'WHAT'S THE WORRY HERE NIC?'
Was Nic Cage Born To Play Himself In Meta-Comedy 'The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent'? Here's What The Reviews Say
In the "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," directed by Tom Gormican, the indomitable Nicolas Cage plays Nic Cage, in an alternate universe where the movie star accepts a billionaire super fan's birthday invitation for $1M. Things obviously go haywire as Cage realizes that the birthday party isn't really a birthday party. Is this action comedy starring Tiffany Haddish, Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan and others a work of meta art done right, or will it fade into a fun anecdote in the eventual Nic Cage biopic? Here's what the reviews say.
It's A Well Written Film
Directed by Tom Gormican from a script he wrote with Kevin Etten, the zippy meta-comedy plays like a fan letter to Cage from someone who's not only seen a lot of movies, but has good taste. Toggling between Hollywood insider comedy to spy thriller to bromance, at times it feels like the movie is threading the world's most ridiculous needle. What begins as a highbrow episode of Entourage" quickly turns into a hilarious spy spoof grounded by a genuine friendship love story between adult men. It works not only because Cage and Pascal are truly brilliant together, but because the movie conjures a world that, however ridiculous, makes its own rules and follows them.
"The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" is a movie that feels like it was pitched alongside a giant pile of Nicolas Cage memes, but its success is due to its strangely nuanced tone, where its star plays alongside the joke instead of playing into it. Cage, cast as himself, is often nuanced, generally restrained, and painfully, awkwardly human... but he's playing a performer who doesn't let the boundaries of traditional acting restrain him. The film walks a high-wire. This is not a movie about the weirdo from the YouTube compilation of his strangest moments in "The Wicker Man," but rather a movie about the man who plays that weirdo.
If the movie were just meme-able moments, it might run out of steam, even with Cage delivering them practically nonstop. Thankfully, there's an actual plot, which allows everyone else (and the film as a whole) to spoof less Cage-specific tropes. At the same time, in idolizing Cage's nouveau-shamanic style — such as it is — the movie even makes time to poke fun at method acting, simultaneously throwing a bit of shade at actors like Jared Leto who swear by the practice.
[AV Club]
Pedro Pascal Is A Delight
The affable Pedro Pascal plays up his own ultra-likeable persona as billionaire super fan Javi Gutierrez, olive-exporting magnate who may also be an international gun runner. Pascal is all of us as his grin never seems to fade around Cage, he's just that happy to be around the man behind the myth. What could easily be a fan service cipher in lesser hands is buoyed by Pascal’s layered, emotional performance. A scene where Pascal shares a personal story about how bonding over the 1994’s Shirley MacLaine comedy "Guarding Tess" helped him patch things up with his dying father is hilarious, but also taps into a great truth about the power of film — any film — to transform lives.
It also helps that "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" is genuinely funny. The film does occasionally indulge in that Nic Cage Extended Universe-style callback humor a bit too much here and there. But when crafting its own big comedic set pieces, it shines. Cage and Pascal's chemistry is impeccable with the two actors very clearly jazzed to be in each other's presence. Pascal, in particular, is a delight. The tongue-in-cheek title of the movie could just as easily refer to Pascal and his sunny career prospects. Between this and his television work on shows like "Game of Thrones" and "The Mandalorian," there are few other actors that can as easily engage with an audience as Pascal right now.
While "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" is clearly a vehicle and celebration of Cage, it's Pascal who ends up stealing the show here. His wide-eyed joy at spending time with Cage is unbelievably charming, and the friendship that arises between Javi and Cage is immensely sweet and becomes the gigantic heart of this film. Pascal and Cage together make a lovely dynamic that elevates this beyond a surface-level action film centered on Cage's life and career, and Pascal finally gets a perfect project to show off his impressive talents as a comedic actor.
[Collider]
However, One Critic Thought The Film Lacked Nuance
Even for those who aren’t dying to know what exactly makes the idiosyncratic Cage tick, the film’s transformation into a broad action-comedy is likely to come as a disappointment, as it feels like an unfortunate exit strategy from the initially heady concept that Gormican and co-writer Kevin Etten have built around their star. By the time Javi’s scoundrel of a cousin, Lucas (Paco León), arrives on the scene and kicks into motion a third act full of routine shootouts and car chases, Unbearable Weight will be impossible to mistake for a riff on Adaptation.
Padding out Unbearable Weight is a similarly contrived and inconsequential subplot about Nick trying to restore his relationship with his fictional ex-wife, Olivia (Sharon Horgan), and teen daughter, Addy (Lily Mo Sheen). The filmmakers sprinkle in the occasional reference to Cage's past work, as when Nick takes Castor Troy's gold pistols out for one more blaze of glory, but these in-jokes are surface pleasures in a film that consistently chooses broad yuks and sentiment over grit and irony and says little of substance about Cage's fascinating career.
TL;DR
He's perfectly cast in a film that tweaks and celebrates his extended resume of over-the-top acting.
[Variety]
The Nic Cage meta-movie hits all the right buttons, in ways no one would suspect going in
[Polygon]
Watch the official trailer below: