The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is an action-comedy movie directed by Tom Gormican, written by Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten, and starring Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal. The film follows Nicolas Cage as a fictionalized version of himself. Down on his luck and in need of money, the actor decides to accept an offer of a million dollars to attend the birthday party of a wealthy Spaniard (Pedro Pascal). However, things take a dramatic turn when Cage is recruited by the CIA to rescue to a kidnapped girl from his benefactor.
This film caught my attention solely due to the title, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which is cocky as heck, so I went into it with no expectations whatsoever. On the whole, the movie did not disappoint and while I greatly preferred the first 2/3rds of the movie, I was thoroughly entertained for the entire runtime. Both Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal are excellent in the movie and their comedic chemistry is a joy to watch. The relationship between their two characters is one of if not the strongest aspect of the movie. As far as the plot goes, this movie is extremely self-aware with many meta jokes around the wacky scenarios that arise. While this makes the movie “funnier” I feel like it detracts from the “character-driven” part of the movie (more on this later). Like previously mentioned, the last third of the movie drags on for a bit too long with added action that seems unnecessary and corny. Additionally, the central conflict of the movie, that between Nicolas Cage and his family, never really gets resolved. The film essentially is so dialed in on being funny and meta that it forgets the story that it started out telling. It almost feels like two movies, one a family drama and the other a spy-action movie, where smashed together somewhat unsuccessfully. The funny part is that the film itself basically says as much but acknowledging one’s weaknesses while doing nothing to address them obviously does not make the film better. Instead, it leaves the audience asking the question, if the writers knew that they were making the story worse, why did they continue to do so? Regardless of this flaw, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent still stands on its own as a one-watch comedy movie with some great performances but unfortunately fails to transcend the boundaries of its genre and hold a deeper message.
***SPOILERS BELOW***
The film begins with Nicolas Cage struggling to get the major roles he used to land in the past. Additionally, he is in need of money and has a very rocky relationship with his ex-wife and daughter. Initially, the character is portrayed as a narcissistic jerk, viewing others only for their part in his “movie-star” persona. Based on this setup, one would expect the script would have Cage encounter various scenarios which would allow him to gain new insight into his maltreatment of his family after which, he would have a change of heart. However, this never actually happens and the audience is left with the setup of a conflict followed immediately by an unearned resolution where the entire family gets along well. Once Nicolas Cage arrives in Spain to visit the billionaire Javi, (Pedro Pascal), Cage’s family is essentially forgotten as the film leans fully into comedic territory. The middle portion of the movie is largely taken up by the actor surveilling Javi and trying to find out if he actually kidnapped the missing girl. Added onto this is the fact that Javi is an aspiring screenwriter, so he and Nicolas agree to write a script for a new movie that Nicolas can act in. In a twist that could be seen from a mile away, this movie will end up being Nicolas Cage’s adventure in the CIA with Javi, which is revealed at the end of the film. Nicolas Cage’s family finally becomes relevant as the third act starts when Javi thinks it will be good for him if he clears up his family drama so he flies the ex-wife and daughter out to Spain. Once again, we see that Cage is still selfish and egotistical when attempts at reconciliation fall flat and his daughter testifies on his need to be the “center of attention”. Clearly, the actor still has a lot to do before his character arc can be complete. Unfortunately, instead of a third act climax that tests Nicolas Cage or forces him to change his character to better his family, we are treated to a cheesy rescue mission that includes an unserious firefight and chase sequence where Cage has to rescue his family and another girl from the evil crime lord cousin of Javi. While the ludicrousness of this scenario happening to a famous actor and their family is quite funny, the joke quickly becomes stale as the third act goes on. Furthermore, immediately after the rescue, we cut to the premiere of Javi and Nicolas’ movie where everyone is all smiles. The final scene is one in which Nicolas Cage has a positive interaction with his family and it is assumed that everyone lives happily ever after. Obviously, this is an unsatisfactory ending because Nicolas Cage shows no serious character growth and unless he changed offscreen (between the end of the rescue mission and the premiere of his film) he should still be the narcissistic father he was at the beginning of the film. Additionally, I find it ironic that Cage is maligned for needing to be the “movie star” center of attention yet the film terminates with him being lauded at the premiere of his own movie. In my opinion a much better direction the film could have taken would be to have Nicolas Cage follow a character arc like that of Rick Dalton from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. This would have the actor accept that he doesn’t need to be the big-time movie star anymore and that oftentimes, this role estranges his family. Perhaps instead of Cage starring in the movie based off of his adventures, we see him hand the role off to some other younger actor while he is content to watch from the background with his family. This arc is also perfectly setup for in the beginning of the movie when Cage’s ex-wife explicitly says that their daughter does not need a “celebrity” she needs a father. The message of the movie could have been about choosing family over fame/career, but instead it chose to be an above average comedic-action movie.