Rent The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)
3.3 of 5 from 519 ratings
1h 42min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- In this wildly entertaining, action-packed comedy, Oscar winner Nicolas Cage plays...Nick Cage! Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictionalized version of Cage accepts a million-dollar offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan (Pedro Pascal). Things take an unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative (Tiffany Haddish) and he must use his legendary acting skills, channeling his most iconic and beloved characters to become a real-life action hero.
- Actors:
- Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish, Sharon Horgan, Paco León, Neil Patrick Harris, Lily Mo Sheen, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio, Katrin Vankova, Demi Moore, Anna MacDonald, David Gordon Green, Ike Barinholtz, Luke McQueen, Joanna Bobin, Enrique Martínez, Manuel Tallafé, László Szívós, Ricard Balada
- Directors:
- Tom Gormican
- Producers:
- Kristin Burr, Nicolas Cage, Michael Nilon, Kevin Turen, Erika Milutin
- Writers:
- Tom Gormican, Kevin Etten
- Aka:
- Massive Talent / Unbearable Weight
- Studio:
- Lionsgate Films
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Comedy
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 11/07/2022
- Run Time:
- 107 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description, English Dolby Atmos
- Subtitles:
- English, English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.39:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Tom Gormican and Writer Kevin Etten
- Deleted Scenes
- The Mind
- Glimmers of Bygone Cage
- Everybody Needs a Javi
- Nick, Nicky and Sergio
- Second Act Action
- Cages 5 and Up
- SXSW Film festival Q&A
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 11/07/2022
- Run Time:
- 107 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description, English Dolby Atmos, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles:
- English, English Hard of Hearing, French, Spanish
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.39:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Tom Gormican and Writer Kevin Etten
- Deleted Scenes
- The Mind
- Glimmers of Bygone Cage
- Everybody Needs a Javi
- Nick, Nicky and Sergio
- Second Act Action
- Cages 5 and Up
- SXSW Film festival Q&A
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Reviews (10) of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Nic Cage didn't quite Nic Cage a Nic Cage film....I think - The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent review by Strovey
This film on paper must have seemed an easy hit. Nicolas Cage the actor more talked about in film circles than any other it would seem, a feature of many memes, a veteran of great films and awful films, playing himself in an action/adventure/comedy? Cannot miss the target.
Somehow in some way the makers did. Clearly, self-aware Cage has fun being ‘himself’ with a great element of film-star self-deprecation as he happily plays himself as a somewhat sad, egomaniac, but also endearing and trying his absolute best. This part works from my point of view, but the vehicle it is given to travel in is less than new and has a few faults, to say the least.
Everything works better when ‘Nic’ is being a bit of an unaware plonker to his daughter and ex-wife, Sharon Horgan moving up the ‘greasy pole’ I see,’ and being stuck with a mega-fan that he slowly comes to like but only because he likes the stuff Nic does. Everything falls down when we get the criminal underworld action adventure added to the mix. People are apparently tortured and die for goodness sake.
Nic is a self-centered conflicted actor, and just that, but by the end he is an action hero that saves the day. I may have misunderstood but seems to pander to a need to show the actor in the best light – it is almost as if meta is trying to be a meta of itself here.
The problem was the premise and indeed the trailers I saw for this film had me really looking forward to watching it but mediocrity far outweighed anything really groundbreaking.
Nicolas Cage clearly liked playing this version of himself and it works, there is clearly chemistry and a sense of fun playing alongside Pedro Pascal whose star has risen recently and deservedly so, he is easily the best thing in the film and lifts it to a level it does not deserve if I am being brutally honest.
Horgan the star of many British comedies in both acting and writing is not given enough to do here which is a shame and Sheen in her first film showing does as well as she can in a role that any young actor could have filled.
Filmed at beautiful locations with good actors in a fun premise it was never going to fail entirely and the first third, possibly two-thirds were fun, comedic and even a little believable if in a writ-large type of way. The let-down comes in the problematical action end of the film where everything gets so familiar and then neatly tied up.
A good effort, a great idea but overall, after getting into a great position the team shot well wide of the goal.
Nic Cage’s many fans and admirers will undoubtedly disagree with me.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
The Embarrassing Watch of Wasted Talent - The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent review by Alphaville
Unless you’re a fan of Nicholas Cage’s mannered overacting, a film in which he plays a fictional version of himself will drive you up the wall. There’s no doubt it’s meant to be humorous, but a little goes a long way. After half an hour a plot kicks in about him developing a film, which turns out to be the one we’re watching. This could have been a neat idea, but most of the in-jokes and slapstick come across as self-indulgent. It’s an oddity that deserves marks for trying and is watchable throughout, even when it makes you wince, but is it the ‘wildly entertaining action-packed comedy’ that the DVD guff promises? Er, no.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
A strange, captivating film, from a sort of dream zone. - The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent review by DR
At first bemusing, then annoying and finally captivating with a finale from Dreamland, this is a memorably unusual film that I am glad I watched. Nicholas Cage is unembarrasedly natural then hammy then over the top. Perhaps this what it really feels like to be a film star???
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Critic review
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (aka Massive Talent / Unbearable Weight) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso
Nicolas Cage appears as Nicolas Cage in a movie all about Nicolas Cage. Or at least a version of Nicolas Cage that most people have in their minds. My initial perception of such a film was that it was going to take a similar narrative route to how Bruce Campbell was portrayed in My Name is Bruce. To some extent, it does follow a similar path but has much more fun staging a meta-comedy with genuine charm.
Consider how Cage is framed in the film. He plays the washed-up version that most modern audiences only see him for and he bites back. During a therapy session, he speaks angrily about how people complain that he’s in too many movies, remarking that it’s his job and he has bills to pay. He tries and fails to read for new roles that he can never land, despite his willingness to embrace the material with all of his vast knowledge of cinema. There’s great ambition in him that is sadly denied in favor of any meager role he can muster.
His relationship is also strained with his ex-wife and a teenage daughter who are no strangers to his ego. While his ex-wife has grown accustomed to his snob approach to film, his daughter has grown weary of his attempts at parenting. He’s also low on funds, an aspect that is frustrating his agent (Neil Patrick Harris) who can’t land him a gig. He does land one job: A birthday party for the Spanish billionaire, Javi (Pedro Pascal). It seems demeaning but the actor finds he has little choice.
It is during this trip to Spain that Cage finds himself interested enough in Javi to help him out with his film aspirations. At first, Javi is just that one weird fan who really wants his favorite actor to take on a screenplay he wrote. As Javi reveals more about himself being both a film and Cage fan, the aged actor starts taking a liking to the guy. It takes some extra coaxing with shoving a mafia kidnapping plot involving the CIA to force Cage into this situation but the character chemistry between Cage and Pascal makes it all worth it.
The film is a lot of fun in how it uses the screenplay angle to become exceptionally meta. Cage and Javi discuss what their screenplay should have and what would make audiences want to see their film. Really, though, they’re talking about the movie they’re within. This becomes incredibly overt as with scenes where they do drugs and then immediately suggest they should write a scene where their heroes do a lot of drugs. While the drug scene within this film is kinda par for the course, the following scene of them being paranoid while under the influence leads to an absurdly amusing chase through a Spanish town.
The script pretty much writes itself by the third act but the focus on Cage and Pascal makes this movie work. They’re a lot of fun to watch, whether they’re running from gunmen or crying over Paddington 2. What makes this whole setup even more charming is that it pokes fun at Cage’s ego while also letting the actor blow off some steam. There’s even a digitally created version of Cage from Wild at Heart that lets the actor fully lean into that part of his ego that demands he still thinks it’s the early 1990s and that he can take any role. Part of me wants him to embrace this personality while the other wants to keep him in check, a sentiment that this film’s Cage would most likely agree with.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent manages to be far more than just the ultimate Nicolas Cage movie. It does have that aspect considering the actor and the role he plays, despite Cage admitting this was one of the toughest roles for trying to adopt a version of himself that everybody envisions. While it’s fun to watch Cage bring up his previous roles and Pascal gush over his favorite films, the meta-commentary it makes on the desires and frustrations of the film tends to make the movie hit all the more hilarious.