The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Until last night, I thought that Donald Trump being elected President of the United States was (probably) the weirdest thing that has happened in my lifetime. And then I watched The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, a film in which Nicolas Cage plays, erm, himself.

If that concept alone isn't weird enough for you, then allow me to inform you that in said film Cage uses his 'shamanic' acting talent to help the CIA extricate the President of Catalonia's daughter from a kidnapping. Mind still not blown? Okay, how about if I tell you that the CIA's main suspect is an unashamed Cage fan-boy (played by Pedro Pascal) who has spent a minor fortune to bring the actor to Mallorca so that they can work on a screenplay together.

If there's one thing you can say about Tom Gormican's film, it's certainly unique. Both a homage to Cage himself and the sort of logic-defying, batshit crazy action flicks he has long been synonymous with, it is also a tongue-in-cheek roast of the Hollywood machine and its penchant for building stars up before quickly discarding them as yesterday's news.

Cage is an absolute riot in a role that (pardon the gag) he was born to play. Fair dues to him for having the humility to embrace this project and knowingly riff on the notion of him being one such forgotten star, as there's plenty of comparable actors who probably wouldn't do the same. And props to Pascal, with whom he shares the sort of bromance chemistry that makes madcap films such as these.

To say any more about this flick would be to spoil its strange ethereal majesty - seeing truly is believing in this instance.