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
  • jburger-85818 - 28 May 2024
    Hang With Me Here
    I'm not including spoilers, BUT I am going to tell you what I thought happened in this movie.

    First, Pascal and Cage are incredibly good together. They sell this movie no matter how you feel about it.

    Here we go.

    The criticism and praise for this movie are well deserved. My one thought is 'Trust Yourself '.

    It's an adult character driven movie that needs some action to get people in the seats.

    That's the crux of it. To me. It's all about two people writing a screenplay. It starts out as one thing, not in the beginning or end, but at one tiny point. There are so many things that just don't make sense, but are absurd! It doesn't devolve into a Nick Cage movie- it IS a Nick Cage movie. I think the intentions are earnest- to do something different. Something unique. To be taken seriously. The two are almost desperate in their quest.

    But it's a Nick Cage movie and in the end- an ending so many had a problem with- you just watched a Nick Cage movie. That's why many are are upset. Oh, spoiler- Face/Off sucked then and it sucks even more now! Now that's a review!
  • sannebaartmans - 8 April 2024
    So fun!
    The story is very nice! I love it. The plot twist is good. It's really fun that at first you think Javi is the bad guy, but then it turns out to be his cousin. The actors are AMAZING! Pedro Pascal and Nicolas Cage were really perfect for these roles. (Especially because Nicolas Cage plays himself) Pedro is also perfectly cast as Javi. Pedro has a very soft ulcer and he brings that to the fore even more in this film. The two have a good connection and that is also reflected in the film itself. The characters are a lot of fun. Definitely Javi, you will quickly like him. Really beautiful. There aren't many big action scenes, but those that are there are well filmed and really fantastic. There is also comedy in those action scenes, which gives the intense scene more air. Normally I don't choose these types of films. Personally, I don't really like comedy, but this movie changed that. I like the movie a lot. You can watch this on the couch with your family or to cheer yourself up. Definitely recommended.
  • moofunga - 18 December 2023
    Best Nicolas cage movie I have ever seen!!!
    I don't review movies very much but this film was absolutely spectacular in every way shape and form.

    Me and my family have been watching a ton of Nicolas Cage movies recently, and this has by far been the best. This movie was a love letter to everything Nicolas cage. Pedro Pascal was super endearing, and I almost cried multiple times. This movie was a movie about a movie about a movie, which then ends with a movie. Nicolas Cage was probably the only actor who actually could have done this movie, and if it was anyone else it just would not have worked, overall this was a fun self aware movie, and Nicolas Cage is great.
  • jadavix - 28 December 2022
    Forgettable but fun, with Cage up to his old tricks
    "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" is kind of like its star's acting style: wild and unpredictable, going from moments of quiet reflection to unhinged craziness when you least expect it. Nicolas Cage/Nic Cage plays Nicholas/Nick, a fictionalised version of himself. Interestingly, he also appears as a younger version of himself, longer haired and leather jacketed, like the Nic Cage who made a famously unhinged appearance on British TV back in the '80s. Or was it the early '90s?

    The modern day Nic(k) has typical problems given to fictional versions of real life movie stars (consider the movies and TV shows with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon "playing themselves", and Van Damme in "JCVD"). He has strained relationships with his family, and seems creatively blocked. His career seems at a precipice: either about to tank, or perhaps find second wind, like Michael Keaton's did with "Birdman".

    He also behaves like fans probably expect the real Nic Cage to behave, ie. Wild and unpredictable, perhaps motivated by an invisible vein of either insanity or genius, depending on your perspective. For newcomers to Cage's career, who are mostly familiar with him from internet memes and clips of "The Wicker Man", they probably think of it as insanity. For those of us who somewhat grew up with Cage, and have seen "Leaving Las Vegas", "Bringing Out the Dead" and maybe "Joe" also, we know it's genius.

    There's a great scene early in the movie where Cage finds out he's missed out on a great role at his daughter's party, and his reaction is totally believable and saddening. You feel bad for him, but then he commandeers the piano and belts out a tune in the teenager's honour, while people either gawk or cringe. Cage brings us from genuine sadness to hilarity in moments.

    Then the machinations of the plot begin. The movie started so well it probably should have continued in this way, without bringing in the self-consciously silly plot. It's like it wasn't enough for them to give us a Cage who behaves the way we expect: we also had to have the kind of mayhem you get from a lot of Cage's movies, particularly the ones referenced here, ie.

    "Face/Off", "The Rock", "Con Air". It feels like they added the half-cooked business about shadowy Spanish criminal organisations and the C. I. A. For the aforementioned types who only know Cage from his bombastic and crazy side. As one of the fans of the more subdued Cage from the classic movies mentioned a few paragraphs ago, I wish they'd made the movie more for us, specifically.

    So "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" isn't a great movie, and nor is it particularly memorable. But it's too good-natured, earnest and frantic to dislike, not unlike Cage himself.
  • SafReviews - 9 December 2022
    Not what I expected it to be
    It's probably my fault for not reading the plot of the movie before watching it, but I expected the movie to be about the life of a big actor and give us more insight into the struggles of their lifestyles. I was intrigued with the plot at the beginning, but when Nick gets kidnapped to be a spy for the CIA I loss interest because it felt too ridiculous and unrealistic for me. I was expecting the movie to be a realistic drama, but it became a fiction movie. The things I did like about the movie were the comedic elements, especially involving Nick and Javi. I also liked the action scenes which looked good and realistic.
  • calorne - 10 November 2022
    Pedro Pascal great plus a few good laughs
    I really enjoyed the performance by Pedro Pascal, I thought he pitched his character perfectly and there were some moments that made me laugh a lot, real belly laughs, but overall the film was a bit all over the place and there was a rather irksome see-sawing between movie acting and sitcom acting..

    There were some good Nick Cage bits, but he wasn't at his zinging best and was a poorer relation of John Malkovich.who aced a similar concept, but in fairness to Nick Cage this was very much a farce, so hard to do any serious caring as it's all very tongue in cheek.

    Amidst the dialogue there were some good action scenes.
  • pjdickinson-27822 - 2 November 2022
    Wonderfully surreal
    It's difficult to describe exactly what this very original film is about without giving too much of the plot away. Essentially, it's a story of an unlikely but touching friendship between a shy, supposed crime boss, and Nick Cage who is the alter-ego of Nicolas Cage trapped in one of his own terrible films and it is a lot of fun and beautifully performed by Cage and Pascal. It's Cage's best film in years and the cameo of Cage as Cage's repellent alter-alter ego is hilarious. The whole cast is excellent but Cage and Pascal really do give their all in delivering this absurd and wholesome story filled with references to Cage's uneven career and, yes, Paddington 2 is a great movie.