'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' film review: Nic Cage as Nic Cage lives up to the Nic Cage hype
The 'Nic Cage playing Nic Cage' action comedy 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' (in theaters April 22) perfectly balances Ridiculous Cage absurdity with self-aware meta jabs at the Hollywood machine.
In short: A cash-strapped and creatively unfulfilled Nicolas Cage (Cage playing a fictionalized version of himself) agrees to make a paid appearance at the birthday party of a billionaire super fan (Pedro Pascal) - who could also be a ruthless arms dealer. Sharon Horgan, Neil Patrick Harris and Tiffany Haddish also star.
It's important to establish what 'Massive Talent' is not: this isn't some mean-spirited clowning of Nicolas Cage. The irresistible hook of 'Massive Talent' is obviously Cage playing Cage ... but perhaps the most interesting aspect of this film is its dissection of what defines a 'Nic Cage film.’ And 'Massive Talent' might just be the perfect distillation of Nicolas Cage's career. On one hand it's an unexpectedly sweet bromance character study of an impassioned, eccentric and frustrated artist. And on the other hand, 'Massive Talent' has fun playing with all the uninspired silly action flick tropes featured in so many forgettable Nic Cage action flicks.
Entire video essays and thought piece articles have mulled the question: 'Is Nicolas Cage a good actor or a bad actor?' He's a polarizing actor who could be written off as the progenitor of so many silly memes and a caricature of acting - but it's impossible to just outright discount his performances in 'Moonstruck' or 'Adaptation' or 'Pig.' Could 'Massive Talent' have starred anyone other than Nicolas Cage? Probably not. 'Massive Talent' is the film equivalent of a Venn diagram overlapping brilliant talent, over-the-top acting and bizarre public persona - and at the very center is Nicolas Cage. A simple, stupid committed parody of Nic Cage playing a baffoonish caricature of himself could have worked as a movie - but thankfully co-writers Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten chose another path: grabbing the audience's attention with a crazy premise that evolves beyond its gimmick because the film has more to say beyond reducing its star to a cartoon.
Of course Cage is the centerpiece of 'Massive Talent' - but with all its layers upon layers of meta awareness and self-referential nods, the film has a lot more to say about the ruthless Hollywood machine than its does about the man, the myth and the legend Nicolas Cage himself. Cage is the perfect entry point for a film that voices pointed disdain at cookie cutter Hollywood blockbusters - all while 'Massive Talent' unabashedly devolves into a conventional buddy comedy action flick. While a brisk high-concept CIA spycraft premise moves the plot along, the film's heart - that of conflicted artist trying to balance his career and family - is thoughtful and surprising endearing. The script smartly leverages Cage's very public history of divorces and poor financial management to underscore one man's attempt to create art - while also racking up massive debt. In this regard, 'Massive Talent' is sympathetic to Cage as an artist and quite critical of a business that inherently forces artistic compromise in favor of big explosions and tropes.
At one point in the film, Cage asks another character what their top 3 favorite films of all-time are - and when Cage hears the wildly disparate list of films, he's flabbergasted how one list of 3 movies could possibly be so seemingly all over the place. And for one moment Nicolas Cage is every single movie fan ever looking at Nicolas Cage's four-decade filmography. At first blush, 'Massive Talent' seems so all over the place - but 'Massive Talent' is a fun ride sitting shotgun with today's most eccentric actor poking fun at himself and taking jabs at a film industry more compelled by 'trailer moments' than saying anything of substance.
Final verdict: Nic Cage aficionados will love watching Cage playing Cage in an absurd double-agent buddy comedy action flick - but everyone can enjoy this satirical wind-up of life as a career artist trying to balance art and business in Hollywood.
Score: 4/5
'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' opens in theaters nationwide April 22. This action comedy has a runtime of 107 minutes and is rated R for language throughout, some sexual references, drug use and violence.
