Diandra Reviews It All- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Is Light

What happens when you become a living legend? Often, we attribute “legendary” status to those who have passed on, and simply act like the “legends who live” are in some odd limbo somewhere. That is, particularly, not easy when you are a human being fully capable and eager to work, build a life, and family but the whole world acts like your best years happened a decade ago. For Nic Cage he is a legend carrying the Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and with humor, insanity, and honesty he shows the sadness and wisdom born from being “disappeared” in plain sight.

Nic Cage is Nic Cage; a respected actor with a laundry list of quotable movies, but, for the past few years, he is lucky if someone will call him to the set of a Dove commercial. He feels the weight of being quietly faded out and his agent, Richard Fink (Neil Patrick Harris), is trying his best to get him something. Add on his 16 year old daughter, Addy (Lily Mo Sheen) thinks he is a selfish jerk and his ex-wife Olivia (Sharon Horgan) , who he still loves, is not sure if she’s wrong. Directed and written by Tom Gormican, and produced by Nic Cage, himself, you cannot help but wonder what grains of truth lie in the loafed film. In career and love life, Nic feels seemingly doomed and is desperate for a second wind or he is docking his yacht for good. Luckily, the adorable/ extremely wealthy Javi (Pedro Pascal) calls him over to Spain to read his script, become his best friend, and look at his weird room dedicated to Nic Cage movie memorabilia.

Honestly, Pedro Pascal oozes such sweetness, I genuinely believe he could do a buddy comedy with a brick wall and it would be one of the most heartwarming films of all time. The internet is obsessed with him and Oscar Isaac because, yes, they are good looking, Latinos but they also feel good as people. From the minute Nic Cage lands in Spain, the chemistry between him and Pascal’s Javi is palpable and absolutely charming. You want to watch their bromance blossom, and only wish that the presence of a cartel and the kidnapping of the President’s daughter was not in the way of their blooming friendship. While Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz do their best with their roles, and are always hilarious, admittedly, everyone felt like a time-filler for what we really wanted to see: Javi and Nic.

I swear every scene they were not in, together, felt like a weekday spent waiting for the weekend. Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal were the life and breathe of this film. It truly is a BFF comedy and a hyper-aware, outlandish take on a very raw truth: being a living legends sucks. For all the respect and fandom you may have, you do not get the work you deserve and need. Thus, Javi not only enters to boost Nic’s ego, but remind him that his inability to get bigger, better films, like he used too, has nothing to do with lack of fans because there are millions of Javiers, in this world, ready to watch him. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent comes out April 22 in Theaters: only this weekend.