One day before I die, I hope to see a definitive movie (autobiography or documentary) on the life and times of the actor Nicolas Cage.  A movie that, like Cage, is intense, free-wheeling, insightful, irreverent and a bit off-kilter.  One that provides a suitable retrospective of all phases of Cage’s extraordinary career (gonzo indie performances, critically acclaimed dramas, big-budget action movies, straight-to-video wasteland and the current resurrection).  One that acknowledges Cage’s personal faults and eccentricities.  Unfortunately, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (or Unbearable) is not that movie.

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In The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (or Unbearable for short) presents, actor Nicolas Cage stars as Nicolas Cage, a well-known but struggling actor who is desperate to land his next breakthrough role.   The character Cage portrays is not actually himself, however, but a version of himself that plays on our collective media awareness of him, both as an actor and celebrity.  This type of “meta acting” pops up every now and then in movies and television series.  Recent examples include Being John Malkovich (with Mr. Malkovich “as himself”), Harold & Kumar go to White Castle (Neal Patrick Harris), The Trip (Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon), This is The End (Seth Rogan, James Franco et al).  In these and other examples, the actors involved get to have a bit of fun tweaking their public in for laughs at their expense.  How funny the exercise is for the audience is directly proportional to how far the actor is willing to be skewered for the sake of entertainment.  In this particular movie, I found the return to be modest.

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Everything Everywhere All at Once is a story featuring a reluctant superhero who is forced to confront a villain who threatens the multiverse with imminent destruction.  Sound familiar?  No, this movie isn’t set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Instead, it features Evelyn (Michelle Yeho), a put-upon proprietor of a failing coin laundromat.  Her incredibly kind husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) believes he’s the reason she’s miserable and files for divorce.  Her angry and distraught daughter wants Evelyn to recognize she’s a lesbian.  Adding insult to injury, Evelyn and Waymond are facing an IRS audit.  While trying to explain Evelyn’s haphazard bookkeeping to cheerless auditor Deidre (Jamie Lee Curtis), Evelyn learns via her husband’s counterpart in the alpha verse that not only do multiple parallel universes exist, but that a malevolent being named Tupaki threatens to destroy it and everything with it.  Through the copious use of verse jumping, Evelyn learns kung fu (among other skills) so that she can defeat Jobu and her nefarious, multiverse-annihilating everything bagel.

Directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (a.k.a. Daniels) gleefully combine several genres and several of their favorite movies in a blender and produce what is decidedly a singular cinematic achievement.  The movie is a lot of fun and features excellent acting throughout, non-stop action and a heavy dose of humor (slapstick and otherwise).  The movie is an extremely busy one, and at times overwhelms when it should pause to allow the audience to take in and appreciate not only the incredibly bizarre visuals but the powerful dramatic moments as well.  The movie is caffeine-added to a fault, in a bouncy castle filled with rubber balls kind of way.  It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but for adventurous types, there’s plenty to enjoy here.  Just be sure to strap yourself in and prepare yourself for a wild ride.  Recommended.

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Licorice Pizza is a “what I did on my summer vacation” chronology of Gary (Cooper Hoffman) and Alana (Alana Haim), two young people who are clearly meant for each other, with only their pride and vanity getting in the way.  Set in San Fernando Valley, California in the early Seventies, the movie features a production design with an attention to period detail unseen since…2019’s Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood.  That’s right, if you still have an appetite for ugly fashions and interiors featuring shades of brown and orange, here you go.  The movie does feature an impressive collection of deep tracks that will make anyone who grew up on album-oriented rock nod approvingly.

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In case you’d prefer a much shorter analysis, click here.

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