Unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, actor Nick Cage accepts a $1 million offer to attend a wealthy fan’s birthday party. Things take a wildly unexpected turn when a CIA operative recruits Cage for an unusual mission. Taking on the role of a lifetime, he soon finds himself channeling his most iconic and beloved characters to save himself and his loved ones.
“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” pays homage to Nicolas Cage’s illustrious but diverse Hollywood career. For the longest time, he was the “It” guy, especially after he won his Best Actor Oscar for his turn in Mike Figgis’ “Leaving Las Vegas,” in which he co-starred with Elizabeth Shue. Following his Oscar win, he starred in a bevy of big studio tentpole blockbusters such as “The Rock,” “Con Air,” “Face/Off,” “Snake Eyes,” “Gone in 60 Seconds,” and the two “National Treasure” movies, but also more character-driven stories like “City of Angels,” “Bringing Out the Dead,” “The Family Man,” “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” and “Adaptation,” to name but a few. He was unstoppable, until around 2010.
His acting choices became less than stellar after starring in “Kick-Ass” and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” Most of his work went straight to DVD, including forgettable titles such as “Trespass,” “Stolen,” “The Frozen Ground,” “Rage,” “Outcast,” and the appalling “Left Behind.” It was rumored that Cage turned down no offer as he had IRS tax problems, and occasionally, in amongst his clunkers, he would deliver intriguing performances in narratives like “Joe,” “Mandy,” “Color Out of Space,” and “Willy’s Wonderland.” With no big-screen comeback on the horizon, it took writer-director Tom Gormican to entice Cage back to the silver screen in a story that sees Cage playing himself, an exaggerated version of himself, and all I can say is, thank God for Tom Gormican.
In “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” Cage plays a fictionalized, larger-than-life variant of himself who goes by Nick Cage. He is still Nicolas Cage, the actor who appeared in “The Rock,” “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Face/Off,” and every other movie in his repertoire, but for the sake of the story, he plays himself louder, grander, more notable, and praiseworthier than his real-life self. And it works, within the context of the story. Feeling that his career is coming to an end, he announces to his agent, Richard (Neil Patrick Harris), that he is retiring, but Richard offers him a job that would require him to travel to Mallorca in Spain to attend the birthday of a billionaire super fan, Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal). At first, Cage declines the offer, but when Richard informs him that the job pays $1 million, to simply hang out with Javi for a few days, he begrudgingly accepts the job.
Once in Mallorca, Javi giddily praises Nick’s movies and even states that he wrote a screenplay that he would love Nick to appear in. Nick rebuffs his offer and specifies that he wants to do nothing but lie by the pool and drink all day and that his presence should more than suffice. The next day, a panicked Javi takes Nick to a remote location and claims they are being chased by the father of the girl he loves, a corrupt general that will stop at nothing to kill him unless they jump off a giant cliff to escape. Nick recognizes what Javi is doing, allowing him to play any number of his big-screen action alter egos, and both men jump off the cliff. Nick takes a liking to Javi, and they both become good friends, but just when things are going smoothly, one day at the market, Nick is kidnapped by Vivian and Martin (Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz), two CIA agents who claim that Javi is one of the biggest arms dealers in Europe.
They recruit him to help them spy on Javi, but he is very reluctant to do so as he feels Javi is a good guy and not the cruel, savage criminal they make him out to be. He eventually relents and agrees to assist them, but soon after, Nick learns that Javi has flown his estranged wife and daughter, Olivia and Addy (Sharon Horgan and Lily Sheen), to his estate as he feels Nick needs to address the mounting tension and alienation his family struggles with and that it is preventing him from performing like he once used to. Nick is outraged, and both men leave, with Nick now feeling that Javi could actually be the bad guy and that he flew his family in so they could all be killed, but we quickly learn that it is Javi’s cousin, Lucas (Paco León), who is the bad guy. Javi informs Nick that Lucas knows he works for the CIA and wants him dead, while Nick claims he was forced into the job and was told to kill Javi, obviously unaware of the new circumstances that have come to light.
They make their way back to Javi’s estate, only to learn that Lucas has kidnapped Addy and threatens to kill her if they interfere with a big transition of power that will befall Lucas from the head of a rival mafia family. With his daughter’s life on the line, he and Javi understand that the only option is for both men to attack Lucas’ compound with all guns blazing, but will Nick be able to channel his inner big-screen action hero in time to save the day???
“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” is precisely what Nicolas Cage needed at this point in his life and career. For far too long, he has been ridiculed for his choice of acting roles, and I can attest to that as I have seen some of his recent work, and believe me, it is not pretty. Occasionally, he will rear his head and star in high-profile projects like “The Croods 1 & 2,” voicing Superman in “Teen Titans GO! To the Movies,” and Spider-Man Noir in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” but these moments are far and few between and Cage, it is reported, chooses to work that way. In real life, much like his fictionalized version, Cage has had real estate and tax problems stemming back to the mid-2000s, hence, his inability to turn down a role.
Cage and Pascal play wonderfully off each other. Pascal’s Javi is in complete awe of the fictional Cage every time he is near him, and it doesn’t diminish as the film progresses; Javi grins like a Cheshire cat when speaking with Cage or simply standing beside him, like a fan meeting his idol, but Javi respects Cage and tries to give him his space, and when Cage engages him and listens to what he has to say, you can tell Javi is in geek heaven. Director Tom Gormican infuses the movie with a plethora of Cage-isms and references to some of his earlier films, “The Rock,” “Face/Off,” a hysterical homage to “Leaving Las Vegas,” and even Cage’s particular acting style, which he calls “Nouveau Shamanic,” but if you’re not a big Cage fan, these jokes will fly directly over your head and land elsewhere. “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” isn’t just a comeback vehicle for Cage; it’s also well-acted and thoroughly entertaining, allowing Cage and Pascal to chew up every ounce of the beautiful Croatian scenery on display.
In Theaters Friday, April 22nd
