Synopsis: A cash-strapped Nicolas Cage agrees to make a paid appearance at a billionaire super fan’s birthday party, but is really an informant for the CIA since the billionaire fan is a drug kingpin and gets cast in a Tarantino movie.
Cast: Nicholas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish, Neil Patrick Harris, Ike Barinholtz, Sharon Horgan, Lily Mo Sheen, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio
Directors: Tom Gormican
Writers: Kevin Etten, Tom Gormican
Cinematography: Nigel Buck
Editing: Melissa Bretherton
Music: Mark Isham
Meta comedy movies can live and die in concept and trailers. The trailer and idea of Nicholas Cage playing a fictional version of himself is an amusing idea. Still, I wasn’t sold on it being enough for a full feature, especially across from Pedro Pascal, whose other meta-comedy from this year, The Bubble, is one of the least funny things I’ve watched in years. I’m happy to report that not only is The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent a love letter to Nicholas Cage in a way super-fans will love, but it’s also genuinely one of the funniest movies of the year.
Playing off the true-life history of Nicholas Cage, he plays a version of himself referred to as Nick Cage. A down-on-his-luck and cash strapped actor with a lavish lifestyle and bad spending habits. He’s also struggling with his family as his ex-wife (Sharon Horgan) attempts to get Nick to play a better father to their teenage daughter, Addy (Lily Mo Sheen). After losing an acting gig he was in love with and ruining his daughter’s birthday, he agrees to take on the job offer his manager (Neil Patrick Harris) has found him: $1 million to attend a super-fans party. This super-fan is Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal), and he may or may not be in charge of a drug cartel. When Nick arrives, he’s sprung among two CIA agents, Vivan (Tiffany Haddish) and Martin (Ike Barinholtz), and the two ask Nick to spy on Javi.
The trip starts with Nick in a depressive spiral as he’s about to give up on his acting career and seek a way to fix his family life. But Javi springs life back into him by play-acting, getting drunk, discussing movies, and generally hanging out and being bros. Javi’s favourite movie is Face/Off. His second favourite is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a film which The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent has plenty of jokes ready for the cinephiles. Javi also has a script written, but when Nick needs a reason to hang around longer to figure out where Javi may or may not be hiding a kidnapped president’s daughter, he comes up with the idea of the two of them writing a screenplay together.
For Nicholas Cage fans, you’ll find enough references to his films and real-life history to get more than a few chuckles, but the film isn’t self-indulgent, and it’s certainly not trying to have a joke in Cage’s face. You can tell the script comes from a place of love for Cage and his films; cinema itself; the comedy/action genre. The most meta the film gets is when Nick and Javi discuss their movie’s script, and Nick mentions how he hates “talky comedies where the plot isn’t going anywhere”, following an extended scene of the two just talking. The most outrageous the film can get is the appearance of “Nicky,” a character who is almost like the devil on his shoulder in Nick’s head. This special effects de-aged Cage with long hair and leather jacket is the 90’s Cage from Con-Air days; it’s the movie star, and he says as much. “You’re Nick fu***ing Cage!” When Nick calls himself an actor, Nicky corrects him and says he’s a movie star. An interesting dichotomy of character work considering Cage’s recent movie rolls in character-driven pieces like Pig which is some of his best work.
If Nicky is the devil on Nick’s shoulder, Javi is most certainly the angel on his shoulder. His appreciation for Nick’s work isn’t indulgent, and his need to work on a script with Nick isn’t one that he’s not willing to criticize. Javi comes off as a true movie fan. One of the reasons The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent works so well is because Nicholas Cage does such a fantastic job of playing himself. Pedro Pascal and Cage have terrific chemistry. I’d happily watch their bromance for longer and looking at Pascal’s career. It’s hard not to see similarities and ups and downs as Cage has had himself.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent doesn’t rely on you being a Cage fan to get the jokes. However, there are some for the hardcore. It’s also a film that’s not interested in picking apart his career. Writers Kevin Etten and Tom Gormican know every true Nicholas Cage fan will have their favourite of his films. This isn’t a movie focused on his career; it’s a movie about a down on his luck actor, a friendship born out of common interests, and a man growing up and choosing to look after his family first and foremost. The movie is a blast, a laugh-out-loud romp that had my cinema in an uproar several times over, and I can’t wait to watch it again.
