Out of all Hollywood male actors, Nicolas Cage is by far one of the more fascinating case studies of an actor’s career. The body of work of Nicolas Cage is full of great performances and solid movie making, no questions asked. However, and it’s shock to anyone, there was an extensive path of Cage’s career where the role and movies he chose were cheap and uninteresting VOD releases or very small theatrical releases. He turned away from movies like National Treasure, Leaving Lost Vegas, Adaptation or Face Off, where he was able to reach critical success and wider popularity with mainstream audiences and went on to do films like Outcast, Rage, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and movies like Left Behind, where the credibility of Mr. Cage started to fizzle out. What’s even more fascinating with Cage’s career is that in between these mediocre movies, he’s still able to delight us with performance like Big Daddy from Kick-Ass, Joe from the film Joe or the psychedelic and outrageous performances from Mandy or Color Out of Space. It was last year’s Pig where the conversation of Nicolas Cage earning a spot for Best Actor at the Academy Awards where people started to remind themselves that, despite the odd choices he’s made, Nicolas Cage is an extremely talented performer. Lest we forget, he’s a two time Oscar nominated actor and one of those nominations he wounded up winning an Oscar.
Even if Nicolas Cage is an odd movie, we are instantly drawn to it. Nicolas Cage has a unique draw for his crazy and fairly recent outlandish performances. Not to say Cage is the greatest actor of all time, but over the last number of years the general public has somewhat lost interest in him or now equate him for the movies he’s been picking, thereby putting his career in an unwarranted stigma. With his new film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent on the horizon, the marketing for the movie have been very promising and surprisingly this movie works unbelievably well. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is the best original comedy in ages. Not only is it a laugh riot for the entire length, but the entire crux is a passionate love letter to the career and the persona of Nicolas Cage, by celebrating his entire body of work, through the positives and negatives. Comedically, Nicolas Cage hasn’t been this beautifully over the top in ages. The thing you’ll take away from this movie is how much we all love Nicolas Cage.
Playing a fictionalized version of himself, Nicolas Cage is facing financial problems by not getting any roles for any upcoming film projects. Things initially start to pick up with Cage is offered $1 million to attend a wealthy fan’s birthday party. Things then start to escalate when Cage goes to the party as a an informant from the CIA. He starts to form a relationship with this wealthy man, Cage starts to dial in his most iconic and legendary film roles to save himself and his family.
By far and away, the best and most vibrant aspect of this movie is the performance given by Nicolas Cage. Where Pig might have been a more grounded and emotional performance, Cage’s performance in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a more playful, colorful and vibrant performance that can find away to channel in the craziness that he’s known for but also make it believable in the realm of reality. Sometimes Nicolas Cage comes across as intentionally funny and that element works so perfectly well in this movie. Cage hasn’t been this funny in years. What makes his performance more engaging is the partnership he shares with Pedro Pascal. Pascal has already built an incredible reputation with his TV work on Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian, but he’s now risen to movie stardom over the past couple of years with films like WW84, Kingsman: The Golden Circle or Netflix’s Triple Frontier. He’s typically played more serious roles where he never really showed his comedic skills. His comedic skills are wonderfully displayed in this movie, serving as a terrific counterpart to Nicolas Cage’s character. Every scene of their interaction is gold and gets funnier and funnier with each passing minute.
With any good comedy, their job is to simply make you laugh. The way The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent uses its comedy it genius, but what really makes this movie special is really the work that Nicolas Cage has given us since day one of his career. It’s not that this movie pokes fun at his questionable roles, but it even celebrates it as art, even if it was negatively received. Kind of like how The Disaster Artist was a way to celebrate all art, good or bad, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is celebrating the entirety of Nicolas Cage, good or bad. With a terrific performance from Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal, great comedy and a rush of entertainment, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a beautiful tribute to Cage’s work and leaves us wanting more.
My grade for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent: B+
Zane's take at the Cinema's 