The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent may serve Nicolas Cage’s own self-portrait for his fans and himself but he is dangerously rivalled by someone who may just command the screen more than him in Pedro Pascal.
Nicolas Cage stars as himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, facing an ending career and financial crisis. Cage accepts $1 million to attend a wealthy guest’s birthday party but he now must channel his iconic characters to save himself and his family.
This film feels like Nicolas Cage wants to be reimagined for a whole new generation and he sets out to do so in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. While the movie gives us one of the most charming duos of the new decade that just radiates pure charisma, it does retreat to Hollywood cliches. The first act of the film offers a realistic take of the actor taking on a new generation of Hollywood as he tries to keep his career alive. The film sets up an interesting premise by having Cage attend a superfans birthday party as a guest; setting up a friendship between Pedro Pascal’s Javi Gutierrez and Cage. Oozing with untapped potential to become an iconic duo for future films, Cage and Pascal chemistry is extremely captivating. One must wonder if the film may have been better off just watching these two be friends throughout the entire duration whilst set to the backdrop of Mallorca.
The film feels like it is trying to be incredibly expressive with its creativeness and meta humour but it ultimately dips towards Hollywood cliches in its third act. Likewise with The Matrix Resurrections, the film attempts to give a free pass to its predictable and cliched third act by applying a lens of self-awareness. It may sound clever to apply meta humour towards running through the Hollywood tropes but it ultimately halts the momentum that the previous two acts had built. Nicolas Cage observably and expectedly taps into himself to bring out an erratic and ardent performance; the more notable point is his willingness to be poked fun at. There may be a real argument to be made that Pascal makes a stronger impact in a film devoted to Cage, his performance oozes with confidence and composure.
Set to the backdrop of Mallorca, an island in Spain, only enhances the surrealist tone of the film by placing the characters in an unfamiliar and interesting location. Director of Photography, Nigel Bluck, utilises the mesmerising location by allowing a lot of warmth to come into the picture through natural and artificial lighting. The film features some existential fever dream moments with multiple Cage’s, the results look a well-done deep fake albeit in low lighting. The film utilises different genres throughout the score of the film including a homage to iconic scores on past Cage films. I can appreciate the ambition to be experimental in composing the score but it ultimately fails to create its own voice and have an impact on the viewing experience.
It may be meta and yet it still falls victim to the third act Hollywood trope without really having anything to say about it. Pedro Pascal and Nicolas Cage are the saving grace in a funny, charming but predictable action-comedy.
6.7/10
