Nicolas Cage is nothing short of Hollywood royalty. The Academy Award-winning actor somehow manages to walk the line between being one of the best and worst actors in cinematic history. And he does it with a unique sense of style and flair! There are perhaps no true peers to Nicolas Cage, which is why when we heard that he was making a movie where he was starring as himself dealing with the insanity of his life, we were all in. And that brings us to Cage’s latest film, The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent (2022).
The Unbearable Weight Of The Massive Recap
Our film follows actor Nick Cage (Nicolas Cage (duh)) as he faces the fallout of having focused too much of his life on his work and not enough time on his family. His wife Olivia (Sharon Horgan) and daughter Addy (Lily Mo Sheen) have had enough of his nonsense and are ready to move on in their lives without him. Olivia wants a divorce. Addy is burnt out on him trying to mold her into a smaller version of himself. Meanwhile, the seemingly oblivious Nick is as passionate as ever about pursuing “the one major role that will bring him back; not that he ever went anywhere.” With his star fading and Cage believing his glory days are behind him, he contemplates retiring from acting altogether.
He reluctantly agrees to take on one last job to bring some big money in at the bequest of his agent Fink (Neil Patrick Harris): to make an appearance at the birthday party of a wealthy fan named Javi (Pedro Pascal) for a whopping $1-Million payday for just a few hours of work. What Cage doesn’t realize is that this fan is also deeply connected to the Mexican drug cartels. Now a pair of CIA agents (Tiffany Hadish and Ike Barinholtz) are tagging him in to gather intel and help save the life of the Mexican President’s teenage daughter who Cartels have kidnapped.
We don’t want to get too into the nitty-gritty details of what the rest of the story entails. We would much rather you experience the film firsthand. Suffice to say, very little goes as planned. Nick Cage gets stuck in several seemingly unwinnable situations that he has to get out of if he ever wants to get home.
The Unbearable Weight Of A Massive Review
The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent is a beautiful love letter to the career of a Hollywood icon. While we are certain most of the people reading this are well aware of his legacy, The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent is Nicolas Cage’s 101st film starring role. Yes really.
Many have criticized the thespian for seemingly taking on any role that came his way in recent years, but there was a method to the man’s madness. That is more apparent than ever in this film. One of the most impressive aspects of The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent is the way it managed to encompass so much about what makes movies great, finding its way into so many different subgenres of cinema and excelling at every one of them.
It’s a story about a man who feels lost and trying to find himself again. It’s a story about a man who is so driven in his work that he loses sight of what is truly important to him. It’s a story about a man who wants to reconnect with his daughter before it’s too late. But ultimately, The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent is a story about relationships. The relationships we have with our friends, with our families, with our work, and perhaps most importantly, the relationships we have with ourselves and who we are.
Somehow on top of the surprising amount of depth, The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent also manages to be an action-comedy-turned-spy-thriller about two guys discovering a beautiful new friendship that they never realized they were missing out on. When the action set pieces finally show up, they are over-the-top in exactly the way you would expect from a Nicolas Cage movie. Car chases, shoot-outs, and a very confusing chase sequence where you never really know who is on what side, make up a very entertaining third act.
Nicolas Cage playing a fictional version of himself is exactly the kind of insane move you would expect from an actor like Nicolas Cage. But what is perhaps most impressive, is that Cage manages to stick the landing of his performance in every conceivable sense. He manages to flawlessly straddle the line as a caricature of himself while never crossing over into actual self-parody. Nicolas Cage is comfortably self-aware of his status as a legend and this role hits all the right notes. This is especially apparent in the few sequences where we experience “Nicky,” a younger imaginary alter-ego of Cage (also played by Nicolas Cage) that only he can see. Nick has several big scenes with only Nicky to play off of, and the entire thing is absolutely a surreal experience.
The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Co-Stars
While our leading man is a presence unto himself, the supporting cast here does nothing but fan the flames of this film’s high energy output. We didn’t think anyone would be able to compete with Cage’s chaotic vibe but Pedro Pascal somehow manages to steal almost every scene he is in. His mere presence offsets Cage’s insanity and perfectly compliments it on screen. I, for one, would absolutely love to see future exploits of Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal in other projects.
Sharon Horgan and Lily Mo Sheen both feel perfectly natural and at home in their roles as Cage’s wife and daughter. One can only imagine what it must be like to live in the shadow of a man like Cage. Horgan and Mo Sheen effortlessly translate that level of exhaustion.
While their roles are minor, Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, and Neil Patrick Harris act as the perfect garnish to this already flawless ensemble. It would have been great to spend a little more time with any of them. But they did just fine with the screen time they had.
The Unbearable Weight Of Final Thoughts
The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent has extreme action, big laughs, and an absolute surplus of heart. You can tell that the people who made this film were passionate about the subject matter. They knew what story they wanted to tell. A loving tribute to the career of a cinematic icon who is still in his prime. It is an homage and an appreciative retrospective that touches on his greatest hits while never making a joke out of them.
Because he’s Nicolas F*cking Cage.
The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent stars Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, Sharon Horgan, Lily Mo Sheen, and Neil Patrick Harris. Lionsgate has released the film which is in theaters worldwide now! Go see it in theaters while you can. It is truly a film that must be experienced rather than just seen.
