The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

In my opinion, one of the best forms of comedy is that of either satire or parody. Making light of someone or thing can be, if written well, quite hilarious. There haven't been many comedies that have been effective in conveying that degree of satire or parody, i.e. "State and Main", "Thank You for Smoking", "The Ides of March" and the like. So when I saw my first trailer of "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent", I felt that this looked totally doable. 

Nicolas Cage stars as...Nick Cage in the action-comedy parody "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent". Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictionalized version of Cage must accept a $1 million offer, lined up by his agent, Richard Fink (Neil Patrick Harris), to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal). Things take a wildly unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by CIA operatives, Vivian (Tiffany Haddish) and Martin (Ike Barinholtz), and forced to live up to his own legend, channeling his most iconic and beloved on-screen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones. With a career built for this very moment, the seminal award-winning actor must take on the role of a lifetime: Nick Cage.

Others to round out the cast are Sharon Horgan as Olivia, Paco Leon as Lucas Gutierrez, Javi's cousin, Lily Sheen as Addy Cage, Alessandra Mastronardi as Gabriela, Jacob Scipio as Carlos and Katrin Vankova as Maria.

This was creatively directed by virtual newcomer Tom Gormican ("That Awkward Moment" '14). With all the mediocre directed comedies out there helmed by seasoned filmmakers, this was a fresh and original approach to a very interesting parody on Cage. His staging and pacing by Gormican were spot on as was his ability to extract those different emotions from Cage depending on whether he was himself or his on-screen alter ego. This director will receive more work. It was also creatively written by Gormican ("That Awkward Moment" '14) plus TV. Along with Gormican, the other writer was Kevin Etten ("Canned" (TV movie) '09) plus a plethora of TV. As I stated prior, satires or parodies are my favorite format for a tight, uproarious comedy, and this certainly lived up to being an effective parody. `Cage has done some creative work, but this was probably one of his better efforts. Going from playing himself and having to then jump back into one of his past on-screen personas and pull it off effectively has to be challenging for any actor, but Cage simply pulled it off effortlessly. Sure, these writers are newbies to feature films, but considering that Etten had as much TV experience that he had certainly helped. Other than a small place of continuity issues (where Cage backed into a car, but shortly after, there was no damage) and a couple of small places of inconsistencies, this script worked. This had to be a film that was created specifically for Cage, and it showed in spades. 

If you are a Cage fan, you'll love this, and even if not, the parody aspect is worth the price of admission. We live in a world where so many people can't make light of themselves, and with this, if Cage can make light of himself, all of us can as well. 

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                            Rated: R                                                 97mins.