#shame those have largely gone the way of the dodo when physical media stopped being a huge thing

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Film Friday: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Nicolas Cage is one of those people that I would describe as both Talented and also very much an Acquired Taste. Do not misunderstand, the man puts his entire everything into everything he does and never seems to think the material is beneath him, but this has a multiplicative effect on the quality of the movie he's in. Wicker Man (2006,) for example, is such a tough viewing experience because Nicolas Cage, bless him, is acting the entire shit out of a screenplay that is beyond garbage. The screenplay of today's movie, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is the furthest thing from garbage, and so, the man really shines in it. To get to all the juicy details of why this movie is so goddamn good I'm going to have to spoil some stuff, and I really recommend you watch this one blind, so if you haven't seen it yet get to it, it's great, you'll love it.

Nicolas Cage is struggling financially, in interpersonal relationships, and artistically, that is to say the fictionalized character based on Cage's persona does this at the start of the movie. How the real Nicolas Kim Coppola, as he is credited in this film, is doing I could not tell you. After deciding to give up on his dream to be a capital-A Actor, Cage decides to take a high-paying gig visiting a rich Nick Cage fan on his birthday. It turns out, however, that Javi (played by the ever-excellent Pedro Pascal) is suspected of being a cartel crime lord, and Cage finds himself press-ganged by the CIA to spy on his new friend, who also is trying to get Cage into his film passion project.

It might not surprise you to hear this, but the movie about making a movie (and also some spy stuff) is quite meta with itself. As Javi and Cage discuss the screenplay, the genre of the film we're in shifts. It's about two men, it's explorative and wacky when they take LSD, it's tense and thrillerlike when they discuss conflicts between the dual protagonists. Cage suggests escalating the art film plot into full action movie madness in the third act and wouldn't you know it that happens in the story around him too. It's not the world's cleverest metafiction, but it's earnest and stays with the concept the entire way.

Now, as I have alluded to earlier, Cage acts up a storm in this movie, playing the relatively normal-ish Nick Cage persona as well as this strange semi-emo theater kid persona of his that torments him as a sort of art conscience. I do commend the film for letting "regular" Cage be a more or less normal person though. I think the temptation to make Cage be a bit more larger-than-life and out there to match his biggest parts definitely was there, but letting him be a normal-ish (but certainly strange) guy was a smart move for the tone of the film.

That said, Nicolas Cage isn't actually my favorite actor in the movie. To my surprise, it was Pedro Pascal that really stole the show. Now Pascal is a good actor, I hope I'm not blowing any minds there, but I would not have clocked him out-acting Cage. Part of it, I think, is the role. Javi is a fucking FASCINATING character, the way subdued intensity in the first act and a half or so makes you wonder if he's being intense in that "cool murder man about to do a murder on you" way or just in the "a film nerd that's really extra about how they talk about their favorite subject" way. It's hilarious, and also impressive to see how Pedro's acting style doesn't really change when it is revealed that he is merely a figurehead and his cousin is running all the cartel murder business. The thing that changes most is the context we read his acting in. He's a dork, a mostly harmless dork who's in way over his head but he thinks it's REALLY cool that Nickolas Cage is there and helping him figure it out. It's a very fun trick of cinematography, but a lot of it also rides on Pascal's deftness in portraying Restrained Aggression.

Now is this thing flawless? It comes pretty close in my book, but there still are some slight sticking points. The movie does perhaps rely a bit too heavily on the semi-ironic "too cool to hold an opinion" love for the melodrama of Con Air and sheer Inside Baseball weirdness of Face-Off, which honestly are some pretty surface-level Cage cuts that fail to take in the totality of what makes Cage such a compelling actor. Granted, it might be riskier to assume the wider audience is familiar with Cage works like Mandy, The Sorceror's Apprentice, Drive Angry or Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, if you would allow my hipster side to flourish briefly.

The movie also builds up just a skootch too hard on the third act genre metamorphosis for my taste. Sure, the fact that it's overwrought action movie nonsense at the tail end of a rather grounded experience is part of the joke, but I feel like going for the relatively clean style of 90's action over a more contemporary interpretation of the same might've been funnier.

When all is said and done, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a pleasant, fun movie. Yes, it's yet another "meta celebration of the movies," but its dedication to exploring its potential makes it one of the better examples in modern time in my book. Cage is fun to have on screen, and the interplay with Pascal really gets some career-best work out of both of them. It might be an acting cliche at this point, but I don't think I'll ever get tired of Good Actors acting out roles of people who are Bad At Acting, or even Good Actors acting out characters who are Decent Actors Not Delivering Their Career Best Right Now. As for the movie itself? It's fun, it's nerdy, it's kinda dumb but kinda smart about it, go see it!