Reviews of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Its a modern (Nicolas Cage) "Netflix" movie in the negative sense. It looks and feels cheap. Most of the characters are "too cool" to take anything seriously. The contrast stands out in particular because we get to see bits of and remeber Cage's older movies. I get that its meta, but in the first 15 min, seeing Cage trying to get an acting job and being completely narcissistic and oblivious to his family and his daughter being completely aloof (not just disappointed) prevents me from having any empathy for the characters. You either see one dimensional "bad" characters (Nic Cage) or "too cool, to show real emotions" characters (his daughter). Its as if Hollywood doesn't know how real people behave and feel anymore. It compounds the lack of soul. Being obnoxious and narcissistic is not funny in itself. The movie becomes better in the second quarter after the main plot starts. Pedro Pascal plays a vulnerable character well, creates empathy and is probably the best actor in this film. Everyone else is, again, too cool, to actually care and be a human. At the same time, the script gives them no opportunity to develop or be more than one dimensional. It feels like a bunch of amateurs saying their dialogue, following a script that was written by a narcissistic, talentless and shallow Hollywood stereotype. The drug scene was the highlight for me and actually funny - there is nothing else really to remember. The action is serviceable, but that's it. The camera work and the colors is boring - typical "Netflix" slop. Its the typical modern (green-screened?), soulless CGI - or at least it looks like that. One explosion from one of his older movies has more character than the entire movie. There are a few twists which just happen and don't really make sense or at least have not been built up. We just get the info and that's it. Again: soulless. The end is....an end. There isn't really any character development but suddenly Nic realizes that his family is important. Why? Who cares.