What more need be said about Nicolas Cage? The complex movie star has been a fascination of a certain type of moviegoer and the entire internet meme community for decades. His newest film seeks to use the bizarre circumstances of his artistic oeuvre as a meditative treatise on storytelling in general, while also rocketing through a standard-issue action film.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a slightly tongue-in-cheek title for a film about an actor who is often lauded more for his substandard performances than for his great ones. The movie is more than happy to maintain that tone by making non-stop references to the man's career, with little regard to quality.
The narrative centers around Nic Cage as a fictionalized version of himself. The performance comes across like a sharp take-down of his public persona, occasionally interspersed with some very gentle Leaving Las Vegas-style overindulgence. Cage as Cage finds himself at a crossroads in his career, struggling with landing the right roles and fed up with being told to be more selective. His ex-wife and slightly estranged daughter are far too grounded for his overblown Hollywood self-importance and his obsessive pursuit of fame or mythmaking leads him to neglect them. Cage is egged on at all times by a ghostly version of his former self, who both provides and exemplifies the performer's signature wild antics. On top of all of that, he's in substantial debt, and his only lifeline is a bizarre offer from a mysterious benefactor who offers an immense paycheck to attend his birthday party. With nowhere else to turn, Cage accepts and travels to beautiful Majorca, Spain.
The outlandishly fantastic scenery serves as the backdrop for Cage's introduction to Javi Guttierez, portrayed by the ever-reliable Pedro Pascal. Javi is immediately affable, granted glorious life by Pascal's surprisingly complex character work, both in huge emotional moments and more subtle turns. Though Cage is initially reticent to bond with a superfan, and reeling from his long-suffering career and its wound to his pride, the two men find themselves becoming fast friends. Javi grew up idolizing Cage from multiple angles. He dutifully lists the American masterpiece Face/Off as his favorite film but also shares a touching connection to the lesser-known 1994 dramedy Guarding Tess. The role borders on audience insert at times, a main character occasionally devoted to voicing the concerns of Cage's most devoted fans, but enough is going on in his performance to keep him interesting.
The film isn't just a buddy comedy between a struggling yet an iconic movie star and his biggest and most charismatic fan. The driving plot hook sees Ike Barinholtz and Tiffany Haddish cast as US government agents, investigating Javi's shady business dealings. Cage is roped into the operation and dragged semi-reluctantly into some slapstick spy stuff, building an action element into an otherwise relaxed narrative.
The operation requires Cage to ingratiate himself to Javi to stick around, which forces Cage to begin the arduous process of work-shopping a film idea with his new best friend. The film they're pitching is where most of the film's meta-commentary lives, and it is less than subtle. So much of this film is about the importance of storytelling and film in particular, and its commentary is incisive. From the modern IP-driven state of Hollywood to the difficulty of getting certain tones to the big screen, its shots are well-placed. Those who've gone through the process of breaking a story will find themselves having flashbacks.
The weak parts of the film show themselves when it tries to be one of the flashy action films it so often references. This isn't Shaun of the Dead, a deconstruction so masterful that it's also one of the best examples of the genre. The action beats are predictable in a way that weakens their impact, especially for the audience that the film hopes to garner. Any viewer who gets half of the references to Cage's massive library would also likely feel a nagging sense of knowing exactly what will happen next. While this does slightly cheapen what is otherwise perfectly fine action beats, the shootouts and car chases really aren't the point. Massive Talent is aiming higher than joining Nic Cage's action archive, it wants to put that work into context with storytelling in general.
This is not a self-congratulatory victory lap, nor is it an overly self-aware parody. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent walks a high wire between those two pitfalls and pulls it off in a way that the trailers can't communicate. This is a soul-searching exploration of the real human emotions behind the people who create, and the people affected by their creations. There is a beating heart behind this film that pounds proudly above the low hum of meta-references and Cage's various funny voices. Co-writer/director Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten have created a film that should be a must-see, not just for every fan of Nicolas Cage, but for every fan of film. With so much made from so little, it's easy to ignore a few dull notes. After all, it wouldn't be Cage without a bizarre choice or two.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent tells the story of a fictionalized version of actor Nicolas Cage when he unwittingly becomes entangled with a criminal cartel. On the brink of bankruptcy, Cage (played by himself) is made an offer he can't refuse: $1 million to appear at the birthday party of a wealthy fan named Javi (Pedro Pascal). However, Cage's trip puts him in the middle of a CIA investigation into Javi, and he finds himself caught between his new friend and a whole host of very dangerous people.