Reel Review Roundup

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (MA)

Directed by: Tom Gormican

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish

Review by: Julian Wright

Nicolas Cage is in on the joke for this clever, meta and funny tribute to the actor, his career and dig at Hollywood.

Hollywood actor Nick Cage’s (Nicolas Cage) star is all but extinguished.

Roles for the once celebrated actor have dried up – even meetings with film makers are becoming few and far between.

On top of that, his obsession over his own career has already put the final nail in the coffin in his marriage to Olivia (Sharon Horgan) and put a strain on his relationship with his daughter Addy (Lily Mo Sheen).

In a moment of desperation, Nick accepts $1 million to appear at the birthday party of Italian billionaire and nervous super fan Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal).

As the two men become unlikely pals, Nick is recruited by CIA agents Vivian (Tiffany Haddish) and Martin (Ike Barinholtz) to get intel on Javi, who they suspect is a notorious arms dealer who is holding a woman hostage.

This bromance with a few twists up its sleeve is a great mix of comedy, satire and pathos.

The chemistry between Cage and Pascal is delightful as the two engage in some lovely banter and a few hilarious sequences guided by a clever script that balances just the right amount of silliness with heart and emotion – the meta-ness of it all is just icing on the cake for film fans.

Cage is able to be involved in this tribute to himself and his career without coming off conceited, bravely acknowledging some of the less than stellar aspects of his career.

It is just such a shame that Haddish and Barinholtz are left with almost no material to play with, their severely underwritten roles hardly worthy of their involvement.

Cage never really went anywhere, his string of straight to video movies were fairly consistent, but he is currently riding an upward trajectory after Mandy and Pig recently.

This bullseye will ensure that trajectory continues.

This entry was posted on April 20, 2022 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.