Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Tom Gormican
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, Lily Sheen,
Neil Patrick Harris
While the last couple of years have shown signs that
Nicolas Cage is beginning to once again pick projects for
artistic rather than economic reasons, much of this century has seen the
actor churn out one straight to VOD title after another as he attempts
to pay off debts accrued by his lavish lifestyle. Unlike say, Bruce
Willis or Naomi Watts, who similarly fell into the straight to VOD trap,
Cage still managed to maintain his cult status throughout this period of
his career thanks to his unique screen presence. The social media era
has turned Cage into something of a human meme, and it's difficult to
know if his fans are laughing at him or with him. What's clear is that
Cage is happy to laugh at himself, as evidenced by
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
Here, Cage plays a fictional version of himself, one that's oddly toned
down and bears little resemblance to all that we know of his bizarre
private life. In reality Cage is married to a twentysomething Japanese
actress, while this version is recently divorced from a fortysomething
Irish make-up artist (Sharon Horgan), with a surly teenage
daughter (Lily Sheen) he struggles to connect with. After
embarrassing himself at his daughter's birthday party, Cage decides to
pay off his debts, quit acting and become a better father. His fictional
debts run to a mere $600,000 here, compared to the tens of millions Cage
has owed at points.
To clear that sum, Cage reluctantly accepts the offer of a million
dollars to attend a party thrown by Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal), a Spanish billionaire and super-fan of the actor. After his initial
cynicism, Cage warns to Javi and finds himself conflicted when he's
recruited by the CIA, who claim the uber-fan is the head of a drugs
cartel (Spain is bizarrely portrayed as though it's some Central
American backwater here).
Director Tom Gormican's film suffers from an issue that dogged a
lot of Hollywood comedies in the 1980s. It boasts a high concept that
catches the viewer's attention (a working class Detroit cop causes chaos
in Beverly Hills; three blokes raise an infant; a bunch of misfits
decide to become cops) but front-loads all the high concept comedy in
the first hour, leaving us to gaze at our watches as it wraps up a
thriller plot we never really cared about in the closing 45
minutes.
Its first hour is indeed fun, thanks mainly to the bromance between
Cage and Pascal. The two actors have a goofy rapport and are just a lot
of fun to hang out with. Also playing a digitally de-aged version of his
1980s' self, Cage proves just what a good actor he is in scenes where he
bickers with himself. We're reminded that the Cage of today is very
different to the Cage of yesteryear, but they're both equally compelling
screen presences.
But then the movie remembers that it's got this unnecessary plot about
drug cartels that it needs to resolve. Gormican struggles to carry the
comedy over to the blandly staged action scenes that make up much of his
film's final act, and what began as a fun romp goes out with the
audience crying "Oh just get on with it for fuck's sake!" The much
loved Paddington 2 is referenced at several points,
which is ironic as that's an example of how to wrap up a comedy's plot
in entertaining fashion. That movie climaxes with an action set-piece,
but the laughs continue right through the action and it never outstays
its welcome. The same sadly can't be said for
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
