What To See This Week (05/13/22)

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

IN THIS action-comedy, Nicholas Cage stars as a fictional version of himself. Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, Mr. Cage accepts a $1-million offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan. Things take unexpected turns when he is recruited by a CIA operative and forced to live up to his own legend, channeling his most iconic on-screen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones. Directed by Tom Gormican, the film stars Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, and Neil Patrick Harris. The Atlantic’s Shirley Li writes, “Making Nick as grounded as possible creates a fascinating tension on-screen between the expectations for Cage’s performance and what he ends up delivering. Yes, the script is nowhere near as profound as Being John Malkovich, as far as movies with meta narratives go, but each time a scene seems to be leading to a joke about Cage’s unusual proclivities, the actor immerses it in an unexpected sweetness.” Review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 86% and the audience score is 87%.

MTRCB Rating: PG