The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Review: Merry Meta Madness

It’s meta, it’s satire, it’s absolutely brilliant as we bring you the Back to the Movies The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent review.

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.

A film where Nicolas Cage plays himself which is a far cry from the straight to video films he’s been in as of late as this particular feature gets to be seen on the big screen.

Almost a parody of his former self in recent titles this particular film is just that, a parody of the man that is Nicolas Cage as he is thrust into a role of a lifetime, playing himself with cage rage aplenty and some incredible range.

The movie starts out as a homage to a day in the life of Nicolas Cage as an actor who just wants to go from job to job for nothing more than a paycheque and to hone his craft.

As the film slowly grows it turns into a buddy comedy when he is invited to Mallorca by Pedro Pascal’s character to attend a birthday party and what starts out as a quick paying gig for Cage turns into a very unlikely friendship.

The chemistry between Pascal and Cage is absolutely phenomenal as we dive into this meta scenario of Pascal’s character Javi pitches a script to Cage.

The whirlwind begins as the very script that Cage and Javi are working on becomes the very same movie which we are watching as an audience on screen. It’s very self-aware and beautifully executed.

Cage is recruited by US secret services to spy on the wealthy fan who has ties to a crime family but at the same time, his friendship with Javi is strained when he hears the news of this connection.

Trying to separate Cage the actor from Cage the husband (or in this film the ‘ex-husband’) with a daughter who just wants a father and not a man devoted to himself and only himself.

The movie takes a stab at Hollywood whilst also serving as a love letter to the industry. This self-referential humour that flows throughout and his inner monologue (a de-aged Wild at Heart era Nic Cage) tries to always put him back on track to the better days of time gone by.

Javi and Cage share a love of the silent horror movie The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and they go on a film history adventure from Face-Off to Paddington 2. This bromance is just something you can’t take your eyes off and director Tom Gormican has crafted something truly wonderful from these pair on screen.

There are moments of laugh out loud comedy followed by endearing moments of family and togetherness. With plenty a Cage feature film joke to see the die-hards happy and more than enough in there for film fans to enjoy it’s a goofy buddy action movie at heart and I loved it.