First Take: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - where do we even begin?

SYNOPSIS: In this action-packed comedy, Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage, channeling his iconic characters as he’s caught between a superfan (Pedro Pascal) and a CIA agent (Tiffany Haddish).

So, Nicolas Cage, playing Nicolas Cage. It’s not often you see an actor play himself in a movie. If anyone could pull it off… it’s this guy. Understandably the most meta film ever made brings with it a different set of expectations, and it is a relief to say that this one certainly delivers everything you expect - and then some more Nick Cage craziness.

Tom Gormican is the man tasked with making a film as bonkers as this work, and I can’t fault his commitment to the project (it took him 4 attempts to secure the services of the man he would fictionalise), as it results in a relatively well paced 1 hour 47 minute film that has a lot of heart to it, as well as the craziness shown off in all of the trailers - it is also, handily, funny too, as the script Gormican co-wrote with Kevin Etten makes the love letter to Cage’s career actually have meaning to it, rather than just being a greatest hits collection (and this is before we mention the sheer amount of references to films - anything which references 1927 German surrealist film The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari gets extra brownie points), passing the 6 laugh test with flying colours in the process. On cinematography duties is Nigel Bluck, and providing the score is Mark Isham - but I think we all want to know how, well, he performs in this film.

Onto the cast then, and supporting Cage is Pedro Pascal, who takes the madness and turns it into a proper buddy movie - the pair of them are able to sell this plot incredibly well, and with Sharon Horgan, Ike Barinholtz, Tiffany Haddish and Neil Patrick Harris filling out the rest of the cast, this film has plenty of star power to excel. As for the big man, all I can really say is that this is a performance that only he could really nail - it’s properly introspective, in keeping with his style on and off screen, and importantly, one of his finest performances for years. If this kicks his career off again, I really wouldn’t be surprised. Only Nicolas Cage could get away with doing a film like this, and it is refreshing to see it do relatively decently.

THE VERDICT

The ever evolving meme of Cage’s work just gets better and better as a result of this movie - self referential and proud of it, Unbearable Weight is a movie which is definitely made for movie lovers, or rather Letterboxd users. Without spoiling too much, anyone who uses that website will agree with the sentiment one particular character has for Paddington 2.

RATING: 4.5/5