Few actors are as evocative in name alone as Nicolas Cage, as a mere mention of him results in a wide variety of images immediately popping into fans’ minds. Whether you remember his time in ’90s blockbusters like Face/Off, The Rock, and Con-Air or his bevy of straight-to-video adventures or his more recent acclaim in independent efforts like Mandy and Pig, the actor has defined himself by being indefinable. The mere thought that Cage, who revels in delivering the unexpected, would be playing a somewhat stylized version of himself for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent felt like the type of project only Cage could pull off, though ran the risk of being as effective as something along the lines of Snakes on a Plane, where the concept alone is more compelling to the Internet than the execution. The end result is an experience that is elevated by the inclusion of Cage and heightened by the absurdity of him playing himself, even if it can’t avoid falling into the underwhelming trajectories of mainstream action-comedies.
