[Review] The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent (7/10)

 

Title - The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent
Production - Burr! Productions, Embassy Films, Lionsgate
Starring - Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish, Sharon Horgan, Lily Sheen, Ike Barinholtz, Paco Leon, Neil Patrick Harris, Alessandra Mastronardi
Writer - Tom Gormican, Kevin Etten
Director - Tom Gormican
Release - 22 April 2022 

While it definitely was a lot of fun to watch Nicolas Cage played a version of himself and not take himself seriously, what really made this movie was in the editing.

There were more than a few times that I thought the movie could have easily fallen sideways or incoherent had it not been how tight the editing by Melissa Bretherton was. 

Pedro Pascal carried almost an equal weight to Cage. His screen presence rivaled the more popular and veteran actor, plus they had great chemistry together that really made the movie too.

I definitely could have done without Tiffany Haddish, she felt completely out of place right from the get-go. I would have very much preferred Ike Barinholtz took up that role, instead of being the joke-inducing sidekick. 

However, in the end, I thought the movie did not live up to its own hype. When I first saw the premise I was immediately reminded of other quirky movies like Being John Malkovich or Cage's finer ones like Matcstick Men or Adaptation. Even though the movie did crescendo towards the end, there just wasn't enough, either in the build-up or in the movie's climax. 

Also the way the story shoehorned in Alessandra Mastronardi as Pascal's character's love interest towards the end was a little awkward. 

But there certainly were enough fun factors throughout the movie to make this a nice little entertainment piece with a lot of comedy.