First Reactions To The New Nicolas Cage Movie Are Overwhelmingly One-Sided
Well, it's unanimous!
This article is more than 2 years old
Most of us aren’t going to be able to see Nicolas Cage play a fictionalized version of himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent until the film hits theaters in April. But, as per usual, the critics have gotten to see the flick and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of disagreement. According to just about every reviewer out there, the unbearable weight that Cage suffers from is starring in possibly the best film of 2022.
While we can’t just go down to the local multiplex or art house to see The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, it screened recently at South by Southwest (SXSW), and the critics can’t stop tweeting about how much they adore the flick. As you can see for yourself in some of the tweets below, it’s often described as hilarious, fun, and action-packed. Nicolas Cage is praised for his meta performance, and apparently Pedro Pascal isn’t too shabby either.
One thing that comes up here and there is that reviewers have been pleasantly surprised with how much genuine emotion Nicolas Cage invests in his role as, well, himself. Considering the premise — an action comedy in which Cage is hired by a drug kingpin to attend his birthday party — it’s understandable that some might’ve thought everything would be played for laughs. But as usual, Cage brings the goods.
At least one critic, Sean Blanford, brings up an interesting point. Blanford, like just about all of his colleagues, praises The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, but expresses concern about how it will play in its wider theatrical release. He rightly points out casual theater-goers may not have the same reactions as professional critics to the Nicolas Cage flick, especially since the movie is — according to Blanford — a “quintessential much watch with a big crowd kind of movie,” and big crowds are still something that can be kind of scarce in the theaters right now. You can see his tweet below.
Unsurprisingly considering the praise on Twitter, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is currently enjoying a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It is, perhaps, bound to drop at least a little once the film gets closer to a wider release, but still having such an impressive rating at any point is incredibly impressive especially when you consider that, you know… Nicolas Cage is in this movie.
The version of Nicolas Cage found in the flick is a lot different from the real world version. Serving as evidence is the fact that trailers for the film show that actor can’t seem to get work in the story, whereas here in the real world Cage appears to be one of the busiest actors in Hollywood. Last year he released the critical darling Pig, the post-apocalyptic thriller Prisoner of the Ghostland, and the horror comedy Willy’s Wonderland. After The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent he’s got two Westerns on the way — The Old Way and Butcher’s Crossing — he’ll be playing Dracula in Renfield, and starring alongside Ron Pearlman in The Retirement Plan. He probably won’t need to hire himself out to drug kingpins for fun money any time soon.
