Filmmaker Tom Gormican (That Awkward Moment, 2014)’s big-boppin’ second swing nearly a decade later is so balls-to-the-wall outrageous, it’s almost a miracle it got made. Almost – as Gormican and company knew their man.
That man? Nicolas Cage. A couple years back, the Oscar-winning movie star had no idea Gormican and his writing partner, Kevin Etten, were cooking up meta movie madness with their purposefully defiant “spec” screenplay for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, now playing daily at Movieland Cinemas in Coram, among other local theaters.
When it was all said and done (on the page), the fleshed-out product harkened Cage’s own Adaptation (2002), but with the kaleidoscopic investigation unto a singular entertainer exclusively closing in on him this go-around. ‘Massive Talent’ also had attached to it, an added caveat: the actor would still need to sign on for the pair’s wacky vision to see the light of day.
Thankfully, as per the self-aware overtones and Hollywood commentary rife within the film, Cage has long-eschewed range-less movie stardom, and eventually ended up migrating from studio work altogether – becoming a shameless “yes man” where all else would balk.
These days, “The Man Who Would Be Cage” is up for any character-driven, artistically risky project coming across his indiscriminate desk; especially those that help place him closer to the thespian classification he covets with more vigor than the celebrity persona he couldn’t ditch if he tried.
And what bigger risk than playing not one, but two versions of yourself?
From “Cage Your Enthusiasm,” to “Cagey Boy” buddy comedy, and action-packed “Cage Cage Bang Bang” extravaganza, the film serves as a metaphor for its star’s genre-bending proclivities. At the top, Cage finds himself unable to connect with his family in the ways he should due to his unbreakable pursuit of the next big role. Down-on-his-luck, Cage begrudgingly accepts the latest $1 million proposal his agent (Neil Patrick Harris) has pitched him: appearing at his biggest fan (Pedro Pascal)’s birthday party.
Only problem is: the CIA (Ike Barinholtz, Tiffany Haddish) are onto Pascal’s billionaire, Javi, on suspicion of kingpinning and kidnapping. They commission an already in the crosshairs Cage to feign interest in developing Javi’s screenplay while spying for the US government – thereby allowing hijinx to ensue in lockstep with what the Cage fandom comes to expect.
Unsurprisingly, a threatened and in-over-his-head Cage can’t help but overcompensate by correlating the chameleonic weapons within his acting arsenal with the art of subterfuge. Nor can he resist falling head over heels in bromance with Javi, the only man who, for the sake of the narrative, watches more Nick Cage flicks on a regular basis than he.
This too was the perfect means to deploy fan-servicing iconic memorabilia from past films without explicitly assigning them all to Cage, a good sport throughout the journey but admittedly protective of his toeing the line between self-parody and unironic pretentiousness.
It’s not a perfect film, but it is a perfect Nick Cage film. See it with a buddy and recommend it to your understudy; because this one’s for A’s — not the B’s!
