Movie Review: 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' is the Funniest Movie of 2022 So Far

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent stars Nicolas Cage in arguably his greatest role, playing himself. Rather, I should say, Nicolas Cage is not playing himself but the pop cultural conception of who we think Nicolas Cage is. Nick Cage, if you will. This conception of Cage as a bizarre egomaniac obsessed with his own fame, struggling with money, and deeply weird is built on some foundations of truth, gossip, and the perceptions created by Cage’s many iconic film performances. It’s an utterly brilliant meta-creation that gives audiences the Nicolas Cage we want while distancing the actor from our perceptions with a layer of creative irony and detached humor.

In The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Nick Cage is struggling. He’s just failed to get a role that he was desperate to land, he’s struggling with his relationship with his 16 year old daughter, Addy (Lily Sheen), who resents his attempts to force his love of moves onto her, and he’s deep in debt despite having worked nearly non-stop for most of his life. With no current offers for movies on the table and needing the money, Nic’s agent, Fink (Neil Patrick Harris) offers him the chance to make a quick buck by appearing at the birthday party of a wealthy Spanish businessman.

Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal) is no mere fan of Nicolas Cage, he’s a super-fan. His hope is to actually work on a movie with his favorite movie star and his invitation to Cage to come to his birthday party comes with an invitation to read the screenplay Javi has spent years working on. Before he can bring that up however, Javi and Nic spend a day getting drunk and bonding over a shared love of movies, including the legendary German art film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and another delightful movie that I won’t spoil here as it has a role to play.

Alcohol and drugs bring Javi and Nick closer together as they both slowly realize that they have a creative kinship beyond having similar tastes in movies. When they begin putting a screenplay together, they find that they have similar ideas about characters, the purity of storytelling, and their notions of Authenticity. Naturally, this can’t last. The plot kicks in when Nick is accosted by Vivian (Tiffany Haddish). Vivian is a CIA Agent and she and her partner, Martin (Ike Barinholz), need Nick to get them into Javi’s compound.

The CIA has evidence that, aside from being the biggest Nick Cage fan on the planet, Javi is a major international terrorist who kidnapped the daughter of an Italian politician to influence the Italian election. With Nick’s help, the CIA wants to rescue the girl and prevent the preferred American supported candidate from dropping out of the election. Nick proves to be less than a natural as a secret agent and the comedy that ensues from this plot drives a very funny second act.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive talent is completely hysterical from moment one. Nicolas Cage’s awareness of Nick Cage the meme and his ability to lean into that unselfconsciously is the star of the movie with Cage making self aware jokes that land. Cage rides the line between self aware and too self aware and makes it work. When Cage talks about his career he comes off as genuine and when he flies off the handle you can sense both Cage the actor and Cage the meme coming together in a perfect comic combination.

Pedro Pascal gives, arguably, his best Non-The Mandalorian performance in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. We’re told that Javi is an international terrorist but when we meet him he is such a sweetheart. He’s deeply invested in being a fan of Nick Cage and his love for the actor is so wholesome that you can’t help but feel for him, even as we are intended to be suspicious of him as a terrorist, a kidnapper, and a man of violence.

The story cleverly uses that story using our perception of Javi and his on screen actions, his warmth and humor to create this wonderfully layered comic character. I won’t spoil anything but it is genuinely hard not to root for Javi and Nick to become friends despite all that we think we know about him. Pedro Pascal is a movie star in this role, rakishly handsome and yet with a movie fans’ big beating, genuine heart. It’s a lovely and very funny performance.

Director Tom Gormican does well to create space for his actors to play out this weird, wonderful idea. The film is not visually dynamic but in its basic qualities, it works. The visual palette is strong enough and, most importantly, it doesn’t distract from the characters. The movie is about Nick Cage’s dynamic star turn and Pedro Pascal’s charming supporting turn and Gormican recognizes that and creates space for his performers to have fun.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is one of the funniest movies of 2022. The film is in theaters now and it’s a must see for fans of Nick Cage, Pedro Pascal and a good laugh.