What does Nicolas Cage mean to you? In The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, the writer/director put himself through a lot to create a meta-action-comedy in which a notoriously cash- strapped A-lister takes a gig as a celebrity appearance and bumbles into international espionage. Fans crave the kind of outrageousness from Cage. Why is it so disappointing?
Nicolas Cage is more than a movie star. He has become an icon, a meme, and a way to gauge exactly what kind of movie fan you are dealing with. If you'll, I'll give you a cage gauge. He has made mainstream adventure blockbusters like National Treasure and The Rock, but also earned Oscar attention for daring dramas like Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation, in which he played twins. He has appeared in a long list of movies, some spectacular, many subpar but still boasting a sprinkling of Cage magic. He has become a gift to filmmakers who want to push the boundaries, delivering deranged and devastating performances in movies like the psychedelic thrillerMandy, the post- apocalyptic action-comedy Prisoners of the Ghostland, and the haunting yet quirky vengeance drama Pig. There is no way that one movie can appreciate Nicolas Cage in full. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent was going to be disappointing.
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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent was written by Kevin Etten and was based on Nicolas Cage. We follow Nic on a pitch meeting, where his enthusiasm for a role causes him to be embarrassed. Nic reluctantly agrees to go to a birthday party in a far-off mansion when his agent tells him that a super-rich super-fan is offering big bucks for him. There is more to Javi than what his silly grin and cinematic obsessions suggest. FBI agents inform Nic that Javi is a kidnapping mastermind who has kidnapped a president's daughter to sway an upcoming election. Nic needs to use his acting skills to trick Javi into giving up the location of the stolen girl.
The kind of movies made in the 90s with the likes of John Woo, Simon West, and Michael Bay are what the eccentric everyman is pitched into. It is not an action auteur. The biggest stunt in That Awkward Moment was when the two actors urinating on a toilet. The Nic Cage action movie has no flair. Sure, they are mostly played for parody with Cage and Pascal comically crawling over low-lying walls, imitating a Gone in 60 Seconds getaway, and squabbling over footwear while fleeing sprays of gunfire. The humor would hit harder if he could pull off the action aesthetic that he is mocking.
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The Hollywood insights are shallow. The indignities of auditioning, the double-speaking agent, and tired jokes about the industry are some of the things that come to mind. It doesn't feel fresh or remotely challenging, which feels like a failure since Cage has been challenging audiences for decades. He has made mainstream movies, but he has given performances that rattle us. He has been raw and weird and over the top, and has tapped into a side of human emotion that is messy. The middle of Cage's appeal is played by Gormican. A passionate monologue about the wonders of a 1920 German silent film is balanced by multiple scenes praising the modern-day mainstream masterpiece that is Paddington 2. Cage's mystique is made mundane by presenting him as a loving but flawed father, who humiliates his cool teen daughter. He is world-weary, needing to be prodded into action by his #1 fan and the spy plotline, which becomes frustratingly predictable as he hits cliches with more abandon than he drops movie references.
In The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Nic gets pep talks from an imaginary younger version of himself, who he calls Nicky, played by Nicolas Cage. When Nic is angry at a meeting that ends in a whimper, he flips his hair and yells " Nic fuck, Nic fuck, Nic fuck, Nic fuck, Nic fuck, Nic fuck, Nic fuck!"
In theory, this collision of young and old should be fun to watch and emotionally powerful, reflecting in dramatic contrast the battle so many of us face looking back on who we were and who we are. The movie by Gormican doesn't have enough depth for that. This isn't JCVD, where a past-his-prime action-hero looks back on his life with the regrets of a Shakespearean tragic hero. Unbearable is not as outrageous as other movies where big stars poked fun at their personas.
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Dean Martin played a horny version of himself in Kiss Me, Stupid, a 1964 Billy Wilder sex-comedy. The courage of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is unbearable, and Neil Patrick Harris gleefully poked fun at his clean kid-star reputation to play a wild degenerate who craved drugs, sex, and mayhem. Nicolas Cage plays himself in a movie, but it's not as weird as Being John Malkovich, where the eponymous star of stage and screen became the jumping-off point for a weird adventure.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is one of the most anticipated movies of 2022. It has become a stupendous disappointment because the movie is ok. Haddish fangirling over Croods 2, Pascal bursting with boyish enthusiasm over meeting his hero, or Cage pondering if his next act might be as a spy are funny enough to make audiences laugh. The movie references are plentiful, but rarely so niche that they will offend anyone. It is a given that Cage is compelling. I wish he had more to do.
The premise is expected and so is the originality and insight of Gormican. The action is not great. The jokes are mediocre, depending on the stars. Nicolas Cage has done more for lesser movies. I wish the movie would pull me in more than it did, because the lure of CAGE AS CAGE is so strong. One of the greatest and most daring performers of a generation is at the center of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. It just coasts on his chaotic charm, instead of living up to Cage's level.
The film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is in theaters.
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