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.
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