The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Movie Review: A wild, often hilarious ride on the Nicolas Cage express

The Nicolas Cage renaissance continues with one of the best comedies of the year with The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

Last year’s Pig, was a reminder of Cage’s brilliance as a dramatic actor. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a testament to Cage’s underrated comedic chops. Pedro Pascal is phenomenal as Javi Gutierrez. Cage and Pascal form one of the best 1-2 comedic punches since Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell in The Other Guys.

The premises is ludicrous. The fictitious Nick Cage is on the brink of financial ruin and is invited to Javi’s estate in Spain. The CIA is trying to find a kidnapped girl at Javi’s compound. They decide to use Cage to find out where the girl is being stashed.

The Unbearable of Weight of Massive Talent works best as a comedy, but there are a bunch of tonal swings. The last 20 minutes are messy as the film turns into a slow-moving action picture. Adding the CIA to the film adds an unnecessary story element to the film.

When Cage and Pascal share the screen, the film’s a blast. Neil Patrick Harris has some great comedic moments as Cage’s agent as well. Cage’s family dynamic is probably the strongest dramatic beat in the film.

Tom Gorrican and Kevin Ettan clearly have an affinity toward Cage, which shines in this film. There are obvious references to films like National Treasure and The Rock as well as deep cuts to films like Guarding Tess. There’s also a great recurring bit about Paddington 2 that left me in stitches.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the elements that stood out in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. There may be some minor spoilers.

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Nick Cage’s Massive Talent on Display

This fictitious version of Nick Cage is narcissistic to the point of alienating everyone. His teenage daughter Addy, played by Lily Mo Sheen, wants nothing to do with him. Cage has a habit of showing old movies that are self-indulgent and don’t involve his daughter’s interest at all. He’s also going through a divorce due to his obsessive focus on himself.

There are actually two versions of Nick Cage in this film. There’s the current version looking to find a movie role that will put him back on the map. Then there’s the younger, more exaggerated version who wants Nick to keep taking as many jobs as possible because that’s who he’s always been. The interactions between these two are comedic highlights of the film.

Nick’s agent, Richard Fink brings up the idea of Cage attending a mega fan’s birthday party for $1 million. Cage turns down the offer. However, when he doesn’t land the role, he ultimately accepts the offer to attend Javi’s birthday party.

Nick Cage’s biggest fan

Javi adores Cage from the moment the acclaimed thespian steps onto his compound. Cage mostly keeps him at arm’s length at first. Javi, a suspected arms dealer is nervous about showing Cage his screenplay that was inspired by the thespian’s many roles. A shared LSD experience brings these two together and they become BFFs. They bond over Javi’s creepy shrine to all things Cage and their favorite movies where the vaunted Paddington 2 is bandied about.

One of the best dramatic scenes comes during Javi’s speech at his birthday party. Javi and his father didn’t agree on much. However, when his father became ill, Javi wanted to mend fences. In the hospital room was a small tv playing a Nicolas Cage film. Javi and his father agreed that this film was a masterpiece. The film in question was Guarding Tess.

Pascal is tremendous here. He goes from eager puppy-dog adoration to appearing like a capable arms dealer with ease, sometimes in the same scene. Every scene featuring Pascal and Cage goofing around is a blast. Jokes come fast and furious. They land far more often than they don’t.

An Unnecessary Investigation

Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz play the CIA agents tasked with finding the kidnapped teenage girl. The girl is believed to be at Javi’s compound. When Cage arrives, they see an opportunity to get eyes on the fortified compound.

Cage resists at first, but once Haddish’s agent Vivian brings up Cage’s daughter, he agrees to help. Barinholtz’s agent Martin is more hesitant about using Cage. Haddish and Barinholtz are gifted comedians, but every time they show up in the film, Massive Talent drags a bit.

The film does a much better job of creating tension out of Cage’s family issues. After getting to know Cage better, Javi decides to surprise his new bestie by flying his wife and daughter to the compound. Cage believes Javi has brought his family to be used against him.

I understand where Gormican and Etten were going with the CIA storyline. They needed to create some dramatic tension, but the tension was already there in the scenes involving Javi bringing his family out.

The final act is a bit messy. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent ratchets up the violence and mayhem that’s tonally disjointed from the rest of the film.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Final Thoughts

Cage and Pascal carry The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent to great heights. Outside of Pig, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is Cage’s best role in the last 10 years. He has no problem poking fun at his legacy and at the same time serves as a reminder of how talented he’s always been.

It’s early in the year and this probably won’t happen, but Pascal should be in the running for the best supporting actor. From comedy to drama, Pascal brings it and then some. Without Pascal’s performance, the film doesn’t work.

Gormican does a strong job in directing the film. He’s more adept at comedy than action. Another bonus for the film is the setting in Spain is absolutely gorgeous, which lends itself to the almost dreamlike, nearly romantic friendship between Javi and Nick.

I’ll be shocked if there’s a better comedy film this year.

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