The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, Nick Cage must accept a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan. Things take a wildly unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative and forced to live up to his own legend, channeling his most iconic and beloved on-screen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones.

  • Released: 2022-04-20
  • Runtime: 107 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
  • Stars: Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Neil Patrick Harris, Tiffany Haddish, Lily Mo Sheen, Sharon Horgan, Jacob Scipio, Paco León, Ike Barinholtz, Alessandra Mastronardi, Nicholas Wittman, Joanna Bobin, Demi Moore, Mario Perez, David Gordon Green, Anna MacDonald, Luke McQueen, Katrin Vankova, Jaime Ordóñez, Enrique Martínez, Manuel Tallafé, László Szívós, Ricard Balada, Rebecca Finch, Jackson Serafim, Jesus Armando Campos Flores, Christine Grace Szarkó, Caroline Boulton, Paula Parducz, Tamás Buza, Mario Perez, Francisco Grey, Kristian Flores, Björn Freiberg, Eli Jane, Cesare Taurasi
  • Director: Tom Gormican
 Comments
  • signlady - 5 June 2024
    ?
    There's about 2 of Cage's over 100 movies I like. Maybe 3 or 4 more I can tolerate.

    Sorry - the king is so naked. I can't pretend he ain't. I watched 5 minutes of THIS farce & could see it was already ridiculous - Just couldn't get into it. Made little or no sense. Right up there with 'Becoming . . . ' whats-his-name . . . Oh yeh, 'John Malcovich . . . ' And besides that - the fact that Cage looked EXACTLY like Steve Carrel with that beard kept taking me out of the 5 minutes I endured . . . Well, 10 mins while writim' this review. Still wasn't interesting . . .

    1 star bc there's no less available . . .
  • dromasca - 9 April 2024
    a self parody
    The intention of parody is visible from the title. 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' directed by Tom Gormican is inspired by 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being', the 1988 screen adaptation of a novel by Milan Kundera directed by Philip Kaufman. Nothing is too 'heavy' in this 2022 film, just as nothing was too 'light' in the 1988 film. If it's a parody, then we're dealing with a Nicolas Cage self-parody. No one doubts that he is an actor with 'massive talent'. But his career seems to have come to a standstill about two decades ago. His memorable roles - and they weren't few - were all created in the 90s and early 00s. The pace of work has not slowed down at all, with the actor being forced to act in just about anything to pay off debts related to taxes and expensive divorces. These roles were mostly in action movies, some bizare, some boring, far from the level of the films of his peak years. In recent years, perhaps with the remediation of its financial situation, we can notice a qualitative recovery trend. 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' is part of this artistic return of Nicolas Cage. What could be more suitable for this purpose than an action film (with a good chance of being liked by fans audience of the genre) in which the main hero is himself ... Nicolas Cage? We can also look at it as a kind of comic meditation on his own artistic path. Or simply as a likable comedy that reuses fun elements from his previous films.

    The hero of the film, the actor Nick Cage is experiencing a life and career crisis. He is divorced and when he is meeting his teenage daughter he exasperates her by forcing her to watch the movies that made him famous or that he likes ('oldies movies' as we all teenage parents or grandparents know). His friend and advisor is an imaginary, younger alter-ego with whom he occasionally has dialogues. His agent is struggling to find him more meaningful roles than the B-movie action movies he's been stuck in for the past few years (any resemblance is no coincidence) but to no avail. He is denied a much-desired role, which would have relaunched his career in another direction. Desperate and in debt, he accepts an offer to attend a Spanish millionaire's birthday party for a million dollars. Upon landing in the picturesque island of Mallorca, however, a surprise awaits him. The Spanish millionaire is suspected of being the head of a mobster gang involved in the politics of Catalonia, who had just kidnapped, before the elections, the daughter of a candidate for the presidency of the province. The American secret services ask for his help to penetrate the suspect's entourage. But the millionaire turns out to be a great cinema lover, an admirer of Cage and willing to make ... a film together with him. The premise of an action comedy is there.

    I'm having a hard time deciding if Nicholas Cage the actor is playing Nick Cage the actor in this movie or Nick Cage the character who happens to be an actor but is more of an adventure comedy hero. Perhaps both director and co-writer Tom Gormican and the actor himself left that dilemma up to the viewers. The character in the film borrows many elements from the actor's biography, but the atmosphere is that of parody, or self-parody if you will. We can't take some of the jokes too seriously, such as the use of prop guns in mob fights, but on the other hand, the script seems quite serious in its homage to Cage's previous films, or other films that he loves. Self-parody and self-homage at the same time? Movies of this type are the more successful the less they take themselves seriously. 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' doesn't relaunch Nicolas Cage's career into stellar orbit, but it does provide viewers with over 100 minutes of reasonable entertainment. This is no small thing either.
  • Silver5963 - 20 December 2023
    The Ultimate Nicolas Cage Film
    Never has a film managed to blend so many genres in this way. Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal carry this meta buddy comedy action thriller drama to an incredible high. Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage, who takes the job of entertaining a superfan for $1,000,000 only to be intercepted by CIA agents who believe this fan, Javi, is, in fact, a druglord in a cartel. Meanwhile, Nick stays close to Javi as they begin writing a film together that would eventually be their own story. A marijuana-fuelled chase and a break-in later, Nick finds himself thrust into the action hero role he'd often played before.

    Utterly brilliant. The best 2022 film I've seen and one of few movies I've truly wanted to applaud at the cinema.
  • IrateTyrant - 31 December 2022
    Never $#!t on yourself!
    Writing my first Nicolas Cage review for Adaptation was an honor to have lived during the same times as a true American legend. Watching the beginning of this, I immediately knew that it was a contender for one of the best Cage movies of all time. When he loses his cool at the beginning and starts singing and playing piano for his daughter, it was a true Hollywood moment when he is broken down to tears at his rejection. Nicolas Cage's performances always naturally shine through and seeing him play himself proved his achievement even more. The action in this were tense enough to make it thrilling, while the comedic elements were all intact. It was funny when they talked about switching shoes and then blooper-reel style didn't actually change shoes but continued the dialog like they had. Who can really walk in Nic Cage's shoes, anyway? He was alive during the golden era of Hollywood through the powerhouses of streaming and even survived the Covid pandemic while rising above and setting the bar even higher for movie stars all on his own. After Googling whether he had a daughter IRL, it turned out that he just gave birth to his third child. Good for him. He really gives the audience what they want, and that's a great ability for a father to have accomplished in his life. It was funny at the end when the family switches to the "movie version," and I was thinking it would be another blooper-reel style moment, but it was well done enough to make sense. Surprises were all over this film, and I really enjoyed it. Not quite as good as Adaptation, which was one of the best movies of all time hands-down. Still, one heck of a flick.
  • jajudarshan - 9 December 2022
    You're In For A Treat
    It's a sweet little treat of everything; Drama, Emotion, Comedy, Action.

    Acting: Everyone justify their respective roles and makes your feel like you're living it. Especially Nicolas Cage even though he is playing himself, he'll never make you feel that. It's like real person struggling with his career.

    Writing: It is clear that the writer has taken good amount of efforts to pull this off. It never leaves us out of track and keeps moving forward.

    Direction: It is nice and sweet. The selection of shots and the way the story is presented will make you want even more. Everything from the beginning till the end makes sense and gives us satisfaction of having watched something delightful.
  • youngcollind - 10 November 2022
    Nic Cage smooches good
    Since Nicolas Cage's more recent work has become increasingly self aware, it wasn't all that surprising to hear that he would be parodying himself in his new movie. Add to that the tongue in cheek title and I was sold before even seeing a trailer. While nothing in the film surpasses it's clever concept, it's still a fun time and a fitting tribute to the b-movie king.

    It rightfully leans into it's satirical premise, allowing Cage to nod towards his greatest hits and making general commentary on the art of filmmaking. This plays for light laughs, if nothing side splitting, and is at it's best when focusing on the endearing bromance with Pedro Pascal. Then in a move similar to Adaptation, Cage's other meta endeavour, it addresses the pitfalls of generic blockbusters, right before devolving into a series of action movie clichés. This could be read as intentionally self deprecating or lazy film making, but either way it's amusing even if it is a little uninspired.

    If you worship at the alter of Cage, the mere existence of this movie should be more than enough to whet your appetite. It delivers on the simple promise of Nic Cage as Nic Cage, and if that doesn't bring you a little joy, I'm not sure what will.
  • kevt-11613 - 3 November 2022
    Loved it, read my review
    The world is a horrible place at the moment, I am stressing about my bills and My mortgage payments.

    So I needed a well deserved break from all my stress and worries.

    I Flicked though the tv apps and all the channels till I can across this on prime video.

    Without reading any reviews or seeing any trailers, I pressed play, went in blind and did not regret anything.

    Within minutes I forgot my stress and Wet my pants with laughter, not laughed at a film like that in a long time. The whole cast was brilliant. So open the fridge, grab a can, and put it on.

    Thanks for the escape from reality Nick, Tom Gormican, Pedro and everyone else involved.