So, Nicolas Cage has got to be one of the biggest actors working today. I mean, it's entirely no surprise; with a plethora of performances ranging from prestigious and exceptional to unhinged, eccentric and under-received. However, no matter how good or bad a performance he gives in, he is an artist who deeply loves and cares about his craft. Now in 2022, we have a new studio comedy, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, for Cage to step into his own shoes and take a journey reflecting on the decades of work he's put in and also what's to come from the legendary actor. 

 

The film stars, of course, Nicolas Cage playing himself - in the film though, he's looking for his next big thing. Not just another film to add to his resume, but the film that will launch him into the next big chapter as a performer. While on this search, he finds himself struggling to connect with his daughter (written for the film; Cage is expecting his first daughter of three children later this year), but is failing due to his acting career getting in the way. After getting an invitation to attend megafan Havi's party in Spain, Cage decides that it may be the time to throw in the towel. So with that set up, we have The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which unfortunately due to its lackluster comedy and wholy uninviting narrative, falls flat and only left me feeling the film was holding a lot more back in its arsenal. 

 

With a film about an actor of such caliber, playing himself nonetheless, it doesn't exactly get as reflective on his career as I may have hoped. There are some great callouts and references, but I was hoping the film would have sat on the idea of Cage impact as a performer a bit longer. For something that celebrates his work, I felt the film talked very little about what makes his acting so important and why he still holds such caliber today. He's fun in the film, however, and the way he's able to bounce off Pedro Pascal's Havi with ease just made the lead performance more entertaining to watch.  Pascal is fun as the main supporting character, but with so much of the plot hinging on his character, the film doesn't really feel all that concerned with giving him the development he very much needs, and as a result, Havi's endgame just becomes underwhelming. 

 

Coming down to the film's plot, I feel like the film may have too many ideas to pull off everything in a satisfying way. Many factors enter their way in, and they play out in the most predictable and telegraphed way. Then when it's time to close off certain threads, the film just ends them and shrugs them off. There are great scenes sprinkled in, but they're sandwiched in-between scenes that are just middling and aren't particularly filmed in an interesting way either. 

Perhaps I was expecting too much from The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. For a film that celebrates such a legendary actor, it doesn't dive enough into what makes him so important. It doesn't help that we follow a plot that's just not very interesting, with humor sprinkled in that sadly only made me chuckle sporadically. For me, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is one of this year's bigger disappointments.