Review: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Actor Nicolas Cage is experiencing a career downswing to the point where his agent (Neil Patrick Harris) is sending him to Spain for a gig for a rich super-fan (Pedro Pascal). A million bucks to spend a few days with a fan? It’s not exactly working with David Gordon Green, but it’ll do. But then a couple of FBI agents (Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz) informs Cage that this super-fan is also an international arms dealer, and they want Cage to be their inside man. The actor is now basically starring in a real-life scenario that sounds like one of his action blockbusters! A mediocre waste of the kernel of a good idea and a game leading man.

This 2022 meta-ish movie from director Tom Gormican (“That Awkward Moment” with Miles Teller) and his co-writer Kevin Etten (an executive story editor on “Desperate Housewives”) is surprisingly lazy, safe, and massively disappointing. Instead of the Spike Jonze-esque take that could’ve been applied to the premise, Gormican and Etten feel content to give us Nic Cage in a parody of a Nic Cage action movie. Even then I’m not sure the dumbing down is entirely intentional. Worst of all, I can’t even say this film is Nic Cage’s best film in decades because I’d still rather watch “Drive Angry” or even the direct-to-DVD “Primal”.

 

With Cage basically playing a fictionalised version of himself, the film is still a little more fantastical than I expected. Instead of Cage sending up his current mostly direct-to-DVD career, he’s attending parties to earn a buck. It’s cute, but by heightening things like that, I think you take the bite out of it a little too much. It also doesn’t make much sense to come up with fictional movie titles and then feature other real-life actors and make references to “Con Air” and such. Cage’s frustration at the struggling circumstances of his career still brings about some humour, but not as much as I’d anticipated. I normally find Cage’s ‘Nic Cage’-y-ness irritating and self-indulgent but due to the comedic nature of the film, I was able to laugh at his patented idiosyncrasies and even found them a bit charming at times. I just figured this would be darker, more biting or even just weirder. Instead it’s surprisingly safe and mainstream, going for easy gags and references. Was I supposed to find it hilarious that Cage watches himself in “Guarding Tess” on a laptop? Is that even a gag? The plot involving the characters played by Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish etc. is really formulaic stuff. I also think the alter-ego thing is poorly wasted, more fun could’ve been had there.

 

Casting Irish actress Sharon Horgan as Cage’s ex-wife is a total head-scratcher. They share zero chemistry, and Horgan’s one of the least ingratiating screen presences in recent years. She seems (on screen at least) unpleasant, unlikeable, and uninterested in being on screen. Also, she may be the first Irish person I’ve struggled to understand. She talks very quickly but also mumbles. I rarely if ever need subtitles for someone speaking English, but Horgan tests my ears in every film I’ve seen her in. On the plus side, Neil Patrick Harris is amusing as Cage’s agent. Also funny is the idea that Cage apparently thought his teen daughter would enjoy watching “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”. 

 

Lightweight and massively disappointing. Nic Cage and Pedro Pascal are enjoying themselves, I less so. Made for (casual) Cage fans, you guys are likely gonna love this. I found it sometimes mildly enjoyable but mostly middling and really safe.

 

Rating: C+