Movie Review The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Movie Review The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

This movie is one that could be considered to be almost meta in its nature. Nicolas Cage playing himself, and with the massive number of roles he has this seems to be a great premise for a movie. Another icon, Pedro Pascal stars alongside him, although he is playing a fictional character like everyone else in this movie.

Nick Cage is being passed over for large movie roles and finds himself struggling as an actor as the movie begins.He is having hallucinations of his younger self from his more successful days who taunts and torments him. His relationship with his wife and daughter are also struggling, as he often seems more interested in his own likes and having his family appreciate them rather than having an interest in who they are as a person.

Losing a key film role inspires Nick to retire and he soon gets an offer of 1 million dollars to go and see a billionaire playboy named Javi Gutiérrez (played by Pedro Pascal) and be the guest of honor at his birthday party. We learn that Javi is quite a big Nicolas Cage fan and also has his own screenplay he wants him to read. Pedro plays this character with the excitement of a proud yet nervous man trying to not only meet his idol but also get him to work with him.

Their first encounter on a boat to go to Javi place sees Nick politely snub him, thinking he is a driver or assistant there to take him to meet Javi. They soon arrive back at the compound where Javi lives and Nick finds himself in a situation he didn't quite expect. He is being pestered to read a script that Javi wrote when he actually doesn't want to have anything to do with movies anymore.

Nick is taken inside a van by a pair of CIA agents and soon learns that Javi is actually an international gunrunner, and they want Nick to help corral him. When Nick returns to the compound, his attitude towards Javi has started to change. Before long, though they find themselves on a few adventures and become fast friends they drop LSD and go for a ride.

Nick finds that Javi maybe isn't such a bad guy and has a hard time believing he is a gun runner. He agrees to do the movie with Javi, with the subject being their friendship. It's a wild ride where we also find out more about Javi and its the type of movie where you might think it's going to only end one way but I did find the conclusion to be actually pretty satisfying.