The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
LIONSGATEThe lyrics of Scott Walker spring to mind when thinking of how far Nicolas Cage has come. He has toiled away for well over a decade, taking roles that puzzle some and delight others. Cage has become a renaissance man because his personality and abilities as an actor are supreme and engrossing. “His crusade was a search,” as Walker wrote. “It’s been a long way to carry on.” But carry on Cage has. It feels as though, especially in the last year of his productivity, he has hit that forbidden momentum. An audience that rallies around him despite sparse and loose offerings of creativity or justifiably artistic features. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is not just a big break for the legendary action star, but a welcome homage to the fans that got Cage to where he is.
Cage does as Cage shall. Here, he plays a caricature of himself, hired by an eccentric mega-fan to perform at a birthday party. Key to the working of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is just how mellow Cage can be when confronted by his own career. He rips his ego to shreds, accepts those highs and lows and the meaning behind it all, and understands the highs and lows of his own legacy. All of that to a supremely comedic beat, the meta-angle this Tom Gormican feature takes. To think one man can go from That Awkward Moment to The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent without skipping a beat.
The key to that is Cage, who takes full control of his own demons and desires with his best performance of the century. As himself. Wonderful, truly, truly wonderful. The fact that will remain throughout The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is that it will work for everyone. Most know who Cage is, but even those out of the loop on what he has been doing with himself since the Ghost Rider days will at least appreciate the references and wordplay often shared with himself or Pedro Pascal. References and cameos littering features are nothing new, but it is how they are adapted into a screenplay that matters. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent makes the small moments matter, incorporating them into important lines of comedy. Not all of it works, but Cage and company swing for a home run each and every time. It is admirable, even if it does not work every time.
Supremely dumb as a concept, but executed with that in mind. Cage rolls with the punches; high brow and low blows alike whittle his career down as best they can. What lingers at the end of it all is that Cage has been there, done that and finalised every genre, role and performance he could get his hands on. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is thankfully more than just a Cage appreciation reel and does work on depths that are far more intricate than they have any right to be for a movie in which Cage attempts to buy a waxwork of himself. It has that usual Cage charm but underscored by a traditional plot of family values, career stalling and crazed millionaires. Fun to watch with a group, and fascinating to watch alone. Brave it either way, but for more than just Cage. “Hoo hah,” the Academy Award winner says, “it’s showtime.” That it is.