The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (4/5 Stars)

 

It appears that I will be talking about Jackie Chan for two movie reviews in a row. That’s okay. I love talking about Jackie Chan. In the 1980s, Jackie Chan made a series of movies that were not great in any classical sense because the plots, to put it mildly, they were contrived, that is deliberately created to showcase martial arts sequences.)Also, since Jackie Chan made family movies, the action itself was contrived so that nobody died or was hurt too bad). This is the sort of thing that movie critics get haughty about. But, as far as I am concerned, these are great movies because what they excel at, the physicality, creativity, and humor of the martial arts is unsurpassed in cinema. Sometimes, a movies contrivance in pursuit of showcasing a certain excellence is the draw.

Enter “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” starring Nicolas Cage as himself. What Nicolas Cage has been doing in movies for the past forty years has led to many jokes, memes, and YouTube Compilations, the best of which has to be a four minute compilation entitled “Nicolas Cage Losing his Shit”. The thing is that Nicolas Cage has been in a lot of bad movies and is prone to taking acting choices that are interesting/loud. To take his most emotional scenes and cut them together without context is a lot of fun and also very unfair. Something seems to be happening to his celebrity that I can best define as the “Keanu Reeves is Sad” affect.

There was once a meme called “Keanu Reeves is Sad”. It was just a picture of Keanu Reeves on a bench eating a sandwich. He was alone and looked sad. It went around the internet and lots of people laughed. Keanu was a really good sport about it. Then those same people seemed to feel guilty about it, and ever since. Keanu has received an upswell of goodwill. They all went to see John Wick.

Now Keanu Reeves is a good action star and “John Wick” are good action movies. Nicolas Cage is not a good action star (I mean come on). He is though a good actor, or at least a very interesting one. He has won an Oscar that was deserved (Leaving Las Vegas). But what he is best known for is trying really really hard to elevate mediocre material. This basis of competence and the fact that we all made fun of him and feel bad about it, I think is the reason why “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” exists. It is a movie contrived to give Nicolas Cage as many moments of throw down acting as possible. That is the point of the movie. They threw in a kidnapping plot, a drug lord, and the CIA to tie the threads together. But what you want to know is this:

Does Nicolas Cage give a scene reading in a desperate and inappropriate manner? Yes

Does Nicolas Cage quit acting and cry about it? Yes

Does Nicolas Cage have conversations with an imaginary friend, himself 20 years younger? Yes

Does Nicolas Cage leave a man behind in dramatic fashion? Yes

Does Nicolas Cage take LSD? Yes

Does Nicolas Cage say “The bees! The bees!”? Yes (although that scene was perhaps too contrived even for me)

I was surprised by how well this movie worked. I think the main reason it does, is not Nicolas Cage, but who is acting opposite to him. Nicolas Cage is invited to a birthday party of a drug lord named Javier Martinez (played by Pedro Pascal) who is a big fan of Nicolas Cage. There are two levels of awkwardness that need to be handled here. One is how Pedro Pascal’s acts toward Nicolas. He has a true appreciation for Nicolas Cage, and is also aware that his level of appreciation might be creepy to Nicolas Cage, so he is shy and guarded about it (while also being really excited that he is hanging out with Nicolas Cage). Nicolas Cage, on the other hand, notices this and is cool about it. That is, he is not freaked out, and in a weird very Nicolas Cage way, decides to match the weirdness. A good example is the scene where Nicolas Cage is given a tour of Pascal’s Nicholas Cage memorabilia den. Pedro Pascal owns a life sized sculpture of Nicolas Cage from the movie Face/Off. Seeing this statue of himself in this guys den, Nicholas Cage calmly asks how much it costs.

“$5,000” says Pedro shyly.

“I’ll give you $20,000 for it.” says Nicolas Cage

“I’m sorry, it’s not for sale.” says Pedro (truly sorry and hoping not to hurt Cage’s feelings)

Then the contrived plot devolves into an action climax which turns into a movie that there is a premier of. Demi Moore plays his estranged wife. You get the idea. I recommend it.

Top Five Nicolas Cage Movies (No Particular Order)

1. Pig

2. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

3. Leaving Las Vegas

4. Honeymoon in Vegas

5. Peggy Sue Got Married.

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (5/5 Stars)

 

There are plenty of big budget movies that are designed to be sensation overload, think of your run-of-the mill action blockbuster. You sit there for several hours as armies run into each other and/or worlds are destroyed but you do not come away feeling like you have seen something new. After all, armies running into each and worlds being destroyed (looking at you Emmerich and Abrams) happen a lot.

Then there are a few rare small budget movies that can be described as sensation overload. These movies do not have the money for a stupid amount of special effects. What they have instead, is a stupid amount of creativity. “Everything, Everywhere All At Once” is one of these rare movies. On a scale of 1 to Being John Malkovich, I would give it around 8 or 9 Charlie Kaufmans. I haven’t seen a movie so jam packed since 2018’s Sorry to Bother You. This will be one of the best movies of the year.

This movie was written and directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. They are relatively new. I had not heard of them before I saw this movie. Almost as important are Brian Le and Andy Le. These are the fight choreographers. They also join many action scenes as stunt men. These four have made a movie that feels big budget and action packed, but if you really think about it (you don’t have to), most of everything takes place in two locations, a laundromat and an office building. This is a master class in efficient film making. There are things that money can buy that do not matter. Then there are things that do matter that do not take a lot of money. Fight choreography is one of those things. Practical effects are another. A sense of humor only comes in cheap (raccoonnie shoutout). But the cheapest and most important thing of all when making something fast paced and complicated is this: a clear vision of what it is you want say. “Everything, Everywhere All at Once” may seem like it is all over the place, but there is a theme to this film that all the different strands of its multiverse are relevant and building to. Like a great symphony, there are many places where discordant themes and notes take center stage, but then they all intertwine and culminate in a climatic harmony, a sum greater than the multitudinous parts.

The plot conceit can be briefly summarized. Today is the day of an IRS audit of a laundromat business owned by Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) and her husband Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan). Evelyn Wang is in a middle-aged crisis. She is not happy with her business or her marriage or her daughter. Her disapproving father Gong Gong (James Hong) is in town for a visit and the IRS auditor Deidre Beaubeirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis) says things like this: “You see all these auditor of the year awards. You don’t get these if you haven’t seen a lot of bullshit”.

On her way to the audit and in the middle of it, her husband’s body is taken over by her husband in an alternate dimension who explains that the fate of the universe relies on her fast action, that there are forces from other dimensions out to kill her, etc. It is explained that every decision in her life creates another universe where the possibilities are developed endlessly in an infinite cycle. In some lives she is an opera singer, a Beni-hana chef, an action move star [whose red carpet appearances look like they come from a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon press circuit :)]. An evil force is on the loose and, sort of like The Matrix, can inhabit the ordinary beings around them. This is how Michelle Yeoh gets into a ridiculous martial arts fist fight with Jamie Lee Curtis. I knew Michelle Yeoh could fight. I did not know Jamie Lee Curtis could.

The fights are ingenious and reminded me of a Jackie Chan movie. They are not as good (how could they be) but they have the same sense of humor. The moves are jokes, they use mundane items as fodder, and the outcome is the punchline. A very good example is Ke Huy Quan’s initial fight in which he fends off several security guards with a fanny pack. The martial arts are very good. The scene is shot in wide angles so you can see it all. And it ends with a move that I would do an injustice trying to explain (Essentially Ke kicks the fanny pack into the security guard’s nose, brings it down with force, and the security guard does a face plant into the floor. I’m sorry you just have to see it). Then there is a tour de force scene with Jenny Slate and her dog/nunchuk. Enough said.

Ke Huy Quan? Who is that? Could it possibly be that kid? It is!! Ke Huy Quan is none other than that adorable asian kid in Indiana Jones: The Temple of Doom. Shortround! The one that went around saying “Okie Dokie Dr. Jones” in the cutest imaginable way. Apparently after being everyone’s favorite in two big Spielberg movies (the second one being “Goonies”), he stopped acting. There weren’t any roles, so he transitioned into a being a stunt actor. This is his first speaking role in twenty-five years. And he kicks ass! Who knew? Look, If Ke Huy Quan was wondering whether the world remembers him with fondness, my God, we do. He is incredible in this movie. What a comeback.

Beneath all the action and practical effects is a story with true heart. In a way, this movie is a mirror to another great movie that came out this year, Pixar’s “Turning Red”. That movie was about a Chinese-Canadian daughter with a tiger mother. “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once” is about a Chinese-American mother with a daughter who is having a crisis of nihilism. How Evelyn Wang deals with her daughter’s depression, depends a lot on how she feels about her life, her business and her marriage turned out. The movie has something very specific to say about this. It definitely has a point of view, which at one point is expressed in one of the multiverses wherein reality is a Wong Kar Wai movie.

When one great movie comes out, its a great movie. When two great movies seemingly from the same area of people, you’ve got a cultural moment. What is ironic, is that I don’t think the government in China would approve of either of these movies and especially not “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.” The communists would disapprove of the effete men, the crude humor, and, above all, the idea that life could be any different (or better) than what it already is.