Film review: "The unbearable weight of massive talent" depicts the phenomenon Nicolas Cage

"This guy

is a legend," a smoked guy says to his girlfriend on the couch.

They are watching "Con Air" - one of the most famous films with Nicolas Cage.

The scene is like a mirror for the target audience for "The unbearable weight of massive talent": A generation that loves Cage for his quote-friendly B-movies as much (or more) as for his prestigious roles.

gets better with Nic Cage, that's just a fact. 

Suddenly

a militia storms into the couple's apartment and kidnaps the girlfriend.

The violent introduction soon takes on a dramatic connection to the real Nic Cage's life.

The 58-year-old actor plays a middle-aged crisis variant of himself: he works too much, is stuck in the past and decides to quit his career after being nobbed for what would be his big comeback role.

It's very

funny when Cage gets embarrassed and nostalgic and sabotages his daughter's birthday party with a tearful solo concert at the piano.

It's also a lot of fun to see him get a visit from himself, or rather, his CGI-rejuvenated self from the "Wild at Heart" period (though without the character Sailor's famous snakeskin jacket), who appears in scenes to remind Cage that he "is not an actor, you are a fucking movie star!".

Depressed and in need of money (a reference to Cage's infamous habit of spending money on crazy things like dinosaur bones), he reluctantly agrees to attend a birthday party in Mallorca.

Superfan Javi (Pedro Pascal) offers a juicy payment of one million dollars.

Of course, it's fun

when the metal layers are stacked on top of each other, like when Javi shows off his Nicolas Cage museum (with a grotesque statue of Cage from "Face / Off").

Every facial expression becomes like an internal joke between the actor and the fans.

Personally, I prefer the serious (and involuntarily comic) Cage, over this self-conscious installation.

To make the plot more quirky, a CIA investigation is underway into Javi's connection to the Spanish mafia, and Cage is recruited as a spy by agents Vivian (Tiffany Haddish) and Martin (Ike Barinholtz).

Javi and Cage

thus end up in a misguided bromance, carved out of Pascal and Cage's chemistry, especially entertaining when they try to hatch script ideas and at the same time trip on acid.

In the same state, Cage explains to the CIA that he is stuck in "a Donnie Brasco situation" - the film is not only a Cage encyclopedia but also a party for film geeks in general.

The title suggests how Cage's talent has become a burden to him but the message, if there is one, is that he can not deny humanity his gift in such dark times.

There is also a sad tone that echoes the debate over the last few years about film, and even Cage admits that he longs for a real drama for adults.

Despite all

the blinking, "The unbearable weight of massive talent" lacks its own soul, and the film becomes more and more hollow as the playing time rolls on.

The crowded end, with "crazy" Spanish gangsters and crazy car chases, tests an already strained patience.

But see it anyway, of course, because everything gets better with Nicolas Cage.