Chuck Barris, the well beloved host of “The Gong Show”, claimed to be CIA Assassin in his book (that was also made into a film) called “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”. There have also been others that were rumored to work for the Federal Government in espionage from Julia Child to Harry Houdini and even Frank Sinatra. How much of it is true and how much is specuation?
“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” directed by Tom Gormican (That Awkward Moment) looks at this in an interesting way with a cast that includess Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish, Sharon Horgan, Paco Leon, Neil Patrick Harris, and Alessandra Mastronardi. Cage plays a version of himself whose career is starting to stall as his bills start to pile up while dealing with family issues with his wife Olivia (Horgan) and daughter Gabriela (Mastronardi). When he takes a job offer to appear at a birthday party in Mallorca Island, Spain for the daughter of rich businessman named Javi (Pascal), he is approached by government agent Vivian (Haddish) who tells him that Javi actually deals in illegal activities his help is needed in finding a kidnap victim that may be locked away in Javi’s mansion. From here, Cage walks a line between his mission and his relationship with this superfan he is there to visit.
Even though the film takes place in Spain, it was actually filmed in Croatia and is shot well enough that it seemed like a place I would like to go to for vacation. There is some CGI used and was done right, especially in scenes where it shows what is going through Nick’s head at certain points. I had no real complaints when it came to the performances, but this really is about Cage and Pascal, who had great chemistry as the story unfolded. Pascal really does shine here as he plays the ultimate super fan by truly displaying the emotions his character has just to make Nick happy.
Given that this is an actor playing a fictionalized version of himself, I found the script itself to be very innovative in its combination of comedy and action. However, the comedic moments fell flat for the most part, but the overlap of his real life filmography and the way Javi’s character is written holds things together pretty well. “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” is not one that I felt wasted my time, so I will recommend it as a Saturday afternoon showing in the theaters.