‘The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent’ Blu-Ray Review: A Fun, Fast-Paced Buddy Action Comedy

What is there to say about Nicolas Cage that isn’t obvious? From Moonstruck to Kick-Ass, to Adaptation, to modern hits like Mandy and Pig, there’s no actor that has the same bizarre charisma and singular commitment to every role no matter how absurd it may be.

He’s the biggest cult star there ever will be, and his career certainly deserves the wild sendoff that this movie is. Despite occasionally being visually flat and sometimes even too hurried for its own good, this film is anchored by great performances from Cage and co-star Pedro Pascal, as well as some good old-fashioned action comedy that we don’t see enough of anymore.

In The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent, Cage’s performance is a hilarious fictionalization of how his fans may view him. The Cage of this film is self-obsessed, pretentious, and very much strapped for cash. It’s always fun to see Cage as “himself,” though his moments having dialogue with the talking hallucination “Nicky” that’s meant to be a reflection of his younger days are fun but not as memorable.

Pascal absolutely shines in his role as Javi, a billionaire who flies Cage to Spain to appear at his birthday party. He has a warmth that perfectly balances with his intense, bordering-on-obsessed love of Cage. References to Cage’s filmography flow through Javi readily, and we even get to see several props from different movies incorporated into the story like the dual gold guns he wielded in Face/Off.

While some of the locations and setups were absolutely gorgeous and the directing was generally slick and unobtrusive, scenes in low light became much muddier and less colorful and made the better images look more coincidental. The film also had an odd sense of being very rushed in places, and more time at points could have been useful for understanding the circumstances more.

While the rest of the cast was decent, like Sharon Horgan as Cage’s ex-wife and Tiffany Haddish as one of the CIA agents, they really don’t hold a candle to co-stars Pascal and Cage, and maybe more screen time with the supporting ensemble could have helped those characters feel more three-dimensional.

Cage’s developing friendship with Javi is the true backbone of this film and their misadventures are charming and very fun. The action elements of the script, while entertaining when they occur, are brought into the story in a bit of a forced way with Cage getting recruited by the CIA to search for a kidnapped politician’s daughter after landing in Spain.

Even with minor gripes, this movie as a whole is very entertaining and has the unhinged, cartoonish energy I want from a fictionalized Nicolas Cage story. If they want to make an MCU-esque universe all for celebrities to play their wildest selves, we’re here for it, and they should do Danny DeVito next.