The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Movie Review

No matter how much of a punchline Nicolas Cage has basically become at this point of his career, he has always been one of my personal favorite actors. The man always completely commits to his own craft (some might argue a little too much occasionally) and remains one of the most polarizing yet undeniably entertaining figures in all of Hollywood. I definitely grew up watching a great number of his films and my love for his work has really only grown over the years. When this film was first announced with Cage playing a fictionalized version of himself, I couldn't stop thinking of how much untapped potential this concept has. And the trailers have only intensified my excitement.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent works as not just a surprisingly touching love letter to the career of Nicolas Cage, but also a genuinely hilarious and heartfelt tale of friendship. It's of course very meta in the way Cage isn't afraid to make a full on mockery of himself, but underneath all of the tongue in cheek humor is a story with surprising amount of emotional poignancy. It's not just a tribute to Cage himself, but also I think has quite a bit to say about the art of filmmaking in general. The many references and homages paid to Cage's entire career will certainly wipe a big smile to longtime fans of his work. But instead of just being a glorified nostalgia show for us Cage fans, this story has real heart and also genuine emotional stakes to bring to the table. This screenplay co-written by Tom Gormican and Kelvin Etten is so smart and avoids so many of the uninspired cliches it easily could've fall into. It's absolutely hilarious and some of the hardest I've laughed with any mainstream comedy in honestly quite a few years. There really isn't a comedic beat that falls flat here. Even as an action comedy, the action set pieces work and the film has some actual surprises up its sleeves especially in its bonkers finale.

It should come as no surprise to say Nicolas Cage is pretty amazing as the fictionalized version of himself. Cage has been giving some great performances in recent years (Pig & Mandy being some great examples) and his recent resurgence continues with what I think might even be one of his best performances to date. Cage nails every comedic moment his performance requires, but he also brings a surprising amount of emotional vulnerability to his work here that reminds us when this guy is actually at the top of his game he's one of the very best actors on this planet. On the other side, Pedro Pascal is as charismatic and funny as he's ever been. I knew Pascal had at least some comedic sensibilities of his own before this, but even he surprised me with how perfect his timing is here and it's impossible not to be completely charmed by his character. Pascal is a true movie star. Cage & Pascal have such impeccable chemistry that this pairing makes for one of my favorite on screen pairings in recent memory. I must also give a huge shoutout to the always delightful Sharon Horgan as Cage's ex-wife and Lily Mo Sheen as his daughter.

I really don't have a whole lot of issues to address with this one. There are small portions where the film might ever so slightly lose a little bit of momentum, but it would quickly find its footing again with another hilarious comedic bit or even a surprising emotional moment. And the action buddy comedy angle of the story does take a much more predictable route. These are minor setbacks though in a new comedy that I think honestly has potential to be a cult classic in the makings. But with a severe lack of great studio comedies these days, I also think this has great potential to become a sleeper hit with general audiences. The crowd that I was in certainly seemed to be eating this film up every bit as much as I was. This was some of the most fun I've had watching any movie in a long while and I already am itching to see it again.

Final Grade: B+