Being There (1979)

"Chauncey, you have the gift of being natural." 

Director

Hal Ashby

Cast

Peter Sellers - Chance the gardener/ Chauncy Gardiner

Melvyn Douglas - Ben Rand

Shirley MacLaine - Eve Rand

Richard Dysart - Dr. Robert Allenby

Jack Warden - the U.S. President

Ruth Attaway - Louise

Way back around 2010, I got into a habit of checking out random films and documentaries I was unfamiliar with from my local library. Back then, I was living alone. I was single. I was in college. I felt adventurous. But I was cheap. So, that's as far as my adventurous-ness would take me.

Checking out the obscurest (for me, at least) movies I could find became a long-lasting hobby of mine.

Some of those movies, such as "The Paper," I've already written about. Others, such as the French animated movie "The Triplets of Belleville" I'll eventually write about some day. 

Back then, I hadn't heard of the 1979 movie "Being There." Seeing that it stars Peter Sellers, one of my top five favorite comedians of all time, was the selling point for me. And yes, I do have a mental list of top five favorite comedians. 

But I wasn't as keen a movie viewer then as I believe I am now. So, I missed a few things here and there in the story. Still, I was intrigued by "Being There" ever since. 

A few years after first watching "Being There," I came across another movie I never heard of that aroused my intrigue. That movie was the 2004 made-for-TV biopic "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" starring Geoffrey Rush. That's another movie I hope to review later. 

There's a part of the movie that depicts the period when Sellers' worked on this particular film.  

which is based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Jerzy Kosiński. Sellers was evidently eager to make "Being There." He tried for years to get this movie off the ground.

In my last post, I cited the movie "Brazil" as being a favorite satirical social commentary film of mine. "Being There" is a favorite satirical comedy of American political life. Not only is Sellers perfectly cast in the lead role, but the movie also has a stellar supporting cast which includes Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas (who died a few days before I was born), and Jack Warden.  

Peter Sellers and Melvyn Douglas had known each other
since the 1940s, according to Douglas's granddaughter, Illeana Douglas.

The Plot

"Chance" (Peter Sellers) works as a gardener for a wealthy man who seemingly lives alone, aside from Chance residing in his Washington, D.C. home as well. 

He has apparently lived with this rich old man since childhood, always taking care of the garden. Chance has also never left the house in his life. 

His window to the outside world has been television and only television. Everything Chance knows of the world is from watching T.V. 

The movie starts with Chance waking up on another typical morning. He turns on the television - there's one in every room - and goes through his regular routine. 

However, Louise, the old man's housekeeper, tells Chance that his benefactor has died. 

Chance is completely naïve about the gravity of the situation. He's now alone in the house, but continues doing what he has always done - tend the garden and watch T.V. 

Some attorneys stop by unaware that Chance is still living there. Surprised by his presence, they ask him if he has any Claims on the old man's estate.  
As he doesn't know how to respond, nor what the attorneys are talking about, he tells them, "I have no Claim. I don't even know what one looks like."

So, they inform Chance he must be moved out by noon the next day. 

He packs up a single suitcase, mostly with suites that belonged to the old man, stored in a trunk up in the attic, and aimlessly wanders around Washington, D.C. 

Chance doesn't know how to interact with other people. He approaches a random woman and asks if she would please make him a sandwich.

He also goes up to a street gang inquiring where he might be able to find a garden to tend to. 

That interaction doesn't go well. 

As he meanders around well into the evening, Chance walks past a T.V. store with a television and camera displayed in the store window. The camera captures passersby on the screen. Chance is enamored at seeing himself on T.V. He backs up and steps off the curb when a chauffeured car belonging to a wealthy businessman named Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas) accidentally backs in and hits him on the leg. 

Ben's wife, Eve (Shirley MacLaine) is in the vehicle. Apologetic for the accident, she offers to take Chance to the hospital. 

On their way, however, she suggests instead to take him back to her estate where an on-site doctor caring for her elderly husband can examine his leg. 

Peter Sellers as "Chance."

She also offers him a stiff drink and asks what his name is. The alcohol doesn't go down well, and Chance starts coughing. 

He says "Chance, the gardener" while coughing, but she thinks he says "Chauncey Gardiner." So, that's how she introduces him to her husband.

Ben is pleased to meet him and thinks he's a well-off highly educated businessman like himself. The couple encourage him to stay in their huge estate until his leg is mended, which he does.

At supper, Ben mistakes Chance's explanation of the lawyers kicking him out of the old man's house as meaning his business was forced to close thanks to the attorneys.  

Ben happens to be a close friend and advisor to the President of the United States (Jack Warden). 

After a few days, the president is scheduled to pay Ben a visit. Ben wants Chance to be a part of his meeting with the president.

He introduces him as Chauncey Gardiner before he and the president start discussing the economy. 

When the president inquires how to "stimulate growth," Chance considers this a gardening reference. 

So, Chance chimes in with gardening advice and the changing of the seasons. 

The president hears this as deep seated and optimistic political advice. So much so that the president quotes Chance by name during his next televised speech.

Of course, the world's attention quickly turns to Chance. If he's influential enough for the U.S. President to mention him by name, inquiring minds want to know who Chauncey is, where he's from, and what other words of wisdom and philosophy he has to offer. 

Chance quickly finds himself interacting with various influential individuals such as a publisher, a Soviet Ambassador, members of the press, and wealthy businessmen who want to hear more of his deep and insightful financial knowledge. 

Yet, in the midst of all this notoriety, nobody from the press, nor the President's cabinet, nor 16 other countries can find any background information on Chance. This leads to all kinds of conjectures as to why that is. All the president's advisors can find is the make and model of his clothing, which he pulled from his caretaker's trunks in the attic. They were all tailored in the 1920s and 1930s. 

"Being There" was shot at the Biltmore Estate and Gardens in Asheville, N.C.

My Thoughts

Chance is so likeable among the influential people he's in the middle of because he's a blank canvas. And each person, whether they're a publisher, an ambassador, a successful businessman, a politician, or the President of the United States, sees themselves reflected in Chance. 

He's none of them. But to each character, he the same as them. Being so blank and empty, Sellers manages to make this character engrossing. He's like what Mary Poppins would be if she were a man, with much less magic and a lot more ignorance. He just... there. And his name "Chance" is very fitting.

Those around him impose their own ideology, political or otherwise, onto him through his words. He is whatever they want him to be. He's an empty page. He's simple and void of complexity. And what's most appealing, he doesn't pontificate nor correct anyone. Chance is agreeable to everyone simply because he doesn't know anything beyond the garden. He's seemingly optimistic and people get what they want from Chance.

The last scene sums him up well. 

Conspiring pallbearers carrying Ben's remains to his final resting place whisper among themselves about Chance. 

"A man's past cripples him," one of them says. "His background turns into a swamp and invites scrutiny. Up until this time, he hasn't said anything that can be used against him." He then suggests Chance should fill the presidency in the next term as we watch Chance literally walk on water. 

While everyone is trying to figure out Chance, we get various points of view when it comes to those who engage with him. 

The one vantage point that's most accurate comes from Louise who worked for the old man whom Chance lived with. 

She happens to catch Chance on the Gary Burns show, her mouth agape at seeing him on the screen.

"I raised that boy since he was the size of a piss-ant," she says to those sitting with her. "And I'll say right now that he never learned to read and write. No, sir! And no brains at all. Stuck with rice pudding between his ears. Short-changed by the Lord, and dumb as a jackass. Look at him now. Yes sir! All you gotta be is white in America to get whatever you want. Gobbledygook!" 

In other words, as Chance personifies the result of the American system, Louise sees him from the view point of everyday American society. 

And Chance doesn't hide any of his ignorance. 

He tells a publisher named Ron at a suave dinner party that very same fact when offered an opportunity to publish a book of his philosophy. 

But Ron laughs it off.

"I can't write," Chance flat out says. 

"Of course you can't. Who can, nowadays? I have trouble writing a postcard to my children," Ron says. 
"I can't read," Chance later admits. 

"Of course you can't. No one has the time." 

The publisher starts chatting about how everyone tunes into the television instead. 

"I like to watch T.V." Chance replies. 

"Sure you do," Ron says. "No one reads!"

In the beginning, Louise criticizes Chance's lack of understanding or interest in sex.

"You need to find yourself a nice woman," she says. "But I think it should be an older woman, since you're not going to do a young one any good." 

Shirley MacLaine co-stars with Sellers in "Being There."

This sexual naivety comes up again several times, namely with Eve.

In one scene during that same suave dinner party, Chance is approached by a flirtatious man named Dennis.
"Tell me, Mr. Gardner... have you ever had sex with a man?' 

Chance clearly doesn't understand the question.

"No... I don't think so."

This man then invites him to "go upstairs." 

Chance innocently asks, "Is there a T.V. upstairs," which makes the man chuckle. "I like to watch."

The man pauses a moment and says, "You like to, uhh...watch?" 

Chance nods.

Sellers' ability to turn naivety into a hilarious performance, with an absolutely innocent and straight face is flawless throughout the entire movie. He always speaks in a soft, gentle, blank tone, with a friendly smile. His cluelessness is ever present on his face. Sellers told critic Gene Shalit during a 1980 interview on the "Today Show" that he slightly patterned his voice after comedian Stan Laurel. His character carries himself with proper and gentlemanly mannerisms. 

Everything plays out smoothly in the story. Nothing feels forced nor far-fetched. 

For instance, after he gets a call from a studio inviting him to appear on the Gary Burns show, Chauncey accepts saying "I've been on television." He's referring to the instant earlier in the film when he walked past the television store window and saw himself on the screen. 

The juxtaposition between the events that fall into Chance's path and what he happens to be watching on T.V. at the time, or what he recalls seeing on T.V. in the past, is subtle and impressive.

For instance, when Eve walks into his bedroom as he's lying in bed, eating breakfast and watching "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" he has no idea that she's blatantly trying to get to make love to her. We hear the conversation between Fred Rogers and Mr. McFeely in the background which hilariously corresponds to what we're seeing. Chance is simply trying to keep his eyes on the screen. He's more interested in Mr. Rogers than he is in what Eve is offering. 

In the scene where he's hit by the car and taken to the Ben and Eve's estate - the second chapter in middle-aged Chance's life- the music video "Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces " by Cheech and Chong is interspersed in the scene as though Chance is equating this event with the song he must have seen previously on television. 

"I need help, ladies and gentlemens [sic]. I need someone to stand beside me. I need, I need someone to set a pick for me at the free-throw line of life. Someone I can pass to. Someone to hit the open man on the give-and-go and not end up in the popcorn machine. So cheerleaders, help me out," the song lyrics goes. In other words, throughout the movie, the T.V. gives the audience all the insight into Chance using real programming he's obviously seen before. 

This aspect of the story reminds me a little of the 1984 picture "Amadeus" in which Mozart's thoughts and emotions are depicted through his actual music heard in the accompanying soundtrack.

This allows the audience to be in on what Chance is thinking while those in the story don't have a clue.

"Being There" is a smart movie. It's a unique take on politics and society. It's subtle and doesn't beat the audience over the head with its underlying commentary. Chance doesn't need brains. He just needs to sound the right way. He needs to have the right people around him. He needs to appear right. Then he'll go far. But as Louise points out to him, "You'll always be a little boy."

During the end credits, an outtake is played which took me out of the movie. Though it's funny, watching Peter Sellers unable to control his laughing is distracting. It's strange how they added it in the credits.

Otherwise, "Being There" is a movie that doesn't try to be anything more than it already is. It's smart, consistent, and delicate like a priceless work of art. We're meant to think like people should we choose to live.  

Brazil (1985)

"We're all in it together." 

Director

Terry Gilliam

Cast

Jonathan Pryce - Sam Lowry

Kim Greist - Jill Layton

Michael Palin - Jack Lint

Katherine Helmond - Ida Lowry

Ian Holm - Mr. Kurtzmann

Peter Vaughan - Mr. Helpmann

Bob Hoskins - Spoor

Robert De Niro - Tuttle

Terry Gilliam's dystopian comedy "Brazil" has been on my "blog about this" list for a long time. It's a movie that's popular to some degree but doesn't seem to be talked about as much as other British films. Thankfully, it has been released through the Criterion Collection. 

As Gilliam is an alumni of the British sketch comedy troupe, Monty Python, the movie has a Monty Python feel with its surreal cynical imagery and comedy style. And in true Monty Python fashion, it takes satire to an otherwise sacrosanct level as it pokes fun of George Orwell's novel "1984." However, it is not a Python movie.

Fellow Python member Michael Palin also stars in this film which helps give it that comedic style. 

In "Brazil" the very not-distant future is a grimy, heavily bureaucratic, totalitarian, consumerist and rather flimsy one. In the midst of this rather present future is a grey-suited government employee named Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce). 

He's at the bottom of the pole when it comes to his government job. 

Lowry has a reoccurring dream in which he's a winged warrior who finds and rescues a gorgeous blond woman in distress. Reality, however, is drab business with little to no peace of mind.

During the Christmas season, a random office worker in a random office kills a fly with a magazine. The dead carcass falls into a printer causing an error on an arrest warrant the machine is typing. 

The name Archibald Buttle is accidentally printed on the warrant, which leads to the arrest of an innocent shoe repair operative instead of a criminal terrorist named Archibald Tuttle.  

Buttle's house is raided by heavily armed officers as he listens to his sweet wife read "A Christmas Carol" to their young children. He's later killed for Tuttle's crimes as authorities don't yet realize they have the wrong person. But what can the government do? Mistakes are made. Nobody's perfect. Oopsy.

Lowry catches the mistake when the wrong bank is charged for the cost of the arrest. 

So, Lowry is given the task of visiting Buttle's emotionally broken widow to hand her a refund check. 

While at her apartment he spots the upstairs neighbor, Jill Layton (Kim Greist), who looks just like the girl in his reoccurring dream. He tries to get to her and talk but she disappears before he can get a chance.

Jill, who works as a truck driver, has been trying to help Mrs. Buttle figure out what happened to her husband. She finds its nearly impossible to work her way through the thick layers of administrative paperwork and officials requiring stamps and approvals. 

All her efforts to help her neighbor leads to the ignorant bureaucrats thinking she's an accomplice to terrorism because she reported Buttle's wrongful arrest. 

That night, the air conditioning in Lowry's apartment fails. He wakes up late at night, roasting, and calls Central Services to fix it. While they're not very eager to help, Tuttle himself (Robert De Niro) shows up to fix his AC. 

Jonathan Pryce as Sam Lowry.

Tuttle says he used to work for Central Services but left because he found the amount of paperwork more tedious than one would expect. 

With his history being what it is, Tuttle is rather apprehensive and jumpy. While he's working on Lowry's AC, two Central Service workers named Spoor (Bob Hoskins) and Dowser (Derrick O'Connor) end up coming by his apartment to fix his AC.

When he declines their services, they become annoyed. Of course, he doesn't tell them that Tuttle is in his apartment. 

Later, Spoor and Dowser return, trash his air ducts, and take control of his apartment under the false claim that they're making necessary repairs. 

Meanwhile, Lowry searches for Jill's personal file, but he discovers it's classified. The only way he can access it is to be promoted to the Department of Information Retrieval. 

His mother, Ida (Katherine Helmond), who is very wealthy and influential, previously managed to get him a governmental promotion, but he declined. 

So, he backtracks his previous refusal by talking to Deputy Minister Eugene Helpmann (Peter Vaughan) during a suave dinner party hosted by Ida. Helpmann gives him the promotion, and now Lowry has access to Jill's file. 

He happens to spot Jill in the lobby of the Ministry of Information. Authorities, too, are closing in to arrest her.

Lowry uses his office to stall the arrest and escorts Jill back to her truck. He jumps in with her and, right away, professes his love to her while government authorities are chasing them. 

They stop at a mall where a terrorist bomb goes off. 

Government agents catch up and arrest Lowry.

When he's able to return home, the two guys from Central Services have repossessed his apartment. Tuttle secretly aids Lowry in getting his place back through a rather stinky means. 

Thankfully, Lowry and Jill meet outside his place, and the two of them hook up in his mom's luxurious apartment while Ida is away somewhere with her plastic surgeon. 

He falsifies some documents to indicate Jill died so she can escape the government's manhunt. 

They spend the night together. And the next morning, government agents raid Ida's apartment.

Lowry next finds himself bound and strapped in a medical facility about to undergo torture by his friend, Jack Lint (Michael Palin). 

And I'll end the synopsis there.  

By 1985, Terry Gilliam had solidly proven himself a master of cynical social commentary through a truly original style of surreal photo animation and imagery. His is a dainty and savory type of silly, blended with a distinctly sharp hint of straightforward irony. I could sit and watch hours of his work. His animations sequences in the series "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and the subsequent Monty Python movies are among my favorites by far. They're deliciously saturated in satire, not taking seriously all the seemingly inane formalities that burden us like wet clothes.  

"Brazil" sits in the middle of a trio of surreal style Gilliam movies including "Time Bandits" (1981) and "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (1988). These three movies all tell stories about escaping societies that are ordered to the point of absurdity. 
"Time Bandits" centers on a child. "Brazil" centers on a young adult man. And "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" centers on an old man. 

Katherine Helmond, Michael Palin, Ian Holm, Peter Vaughan, and Jack Purvis also star in "Time Bandits" while Jonathan Pryce stars in "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen."

The imagery and silliness typical of Gilliam couldn't fit any better in a story like this. There's still room for the audience to come in, relate to the situation and to the main character to some degree. But that Monty Python influence is visible underneath the exterior satirical humor to the fisheye close-ups and camera angles. 
Even as a cult film, it seems to me this movie doesn't receive as much attention as it should though it has inspired directors such as Tim Burton, the Coen brothers, and Neil Marshall.

Despite critic Roger Ebert's less-than-positive review of this movie, I still love it.   

"Brazil" has a place among other off-beat social critique films such as "A Clockwork Orange," "Dr. Strangelove," and I would even be so bold to include Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times." Although Charlie Chaplin's movie is much more simple and less packed than "Brazil" which makes his commentary easier to grasp. 

Gilliam's future in "Brazil" includes a pampered upper-class that doesn't bat an eye to any chaos around them, including terrorist bombs going off, alongside a lower-middle class subject to an unsympathetic machine-like witless ruling class. 

The bureaucracy is heavily built up to the point of senselessness. The shoddy ducts and vents are like some sort of umbilical cord between the masses and the ruling officials always pumping and blowing life (for all practical purposes) into society while killing all beauty and character.

The ruling class doesn't think. It just does. And the masses are either comfortably distracted by materialism, or standing up against the system which plasters and spews propaganda all around. Pointless, meaningless mantras like "Suspicion breeds confidence" and "Information is the key to prosperity" are plastered everywhere and shoved in people's faces as they go about their daily lives. And the rest think the best way to regain society is to destroy it completely. But the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The forced festive music amid the dull gray dystopian and laborious environment tries to get it in people's heads, "See! Things are actually going well" while everything crumbles around them. But no one should pay any attention to that.

Nothing is perfect. There's always a problem, great or small.  

One touch I like is how various characters in this movie are often tuned into classic films. In one scene, Jill sits in her bathtub and watches "The Coconuts" (1929) starring the Marx Brothers. While Lowry is at work, employees secretly watch other old black and white classics when the boss isn't looking. It's as though the society yearns for more normal periods of time. The atmosphere is a mix of past and present done well. 

A favorite scene of mine sees Lowry and another government agent in the next office in a tug-o-war over a shared desk that protrudes through the office walls. 

In this movie, Lowry demonstrates that humanity still exists no matter what. His romantic dreams are haunted by the obstructing, imprisoning bureaucracy around him. In one dream, he battles this bureaucracy which takes the form of a Samurai warrior filled with industrial flames, to save the woman of his dreams. 

As this movie is often compared to Orwell's "1984," "Brazil" is distinct from Orwell's book in that it depicts the here and now. Orwell looks into the future. 

"Brazil" is a loaded movie. It's one of those movies that audiences may have to watch more than once to grasp to take everything in. 

The message amidst all this is clear. The desire for something better and wholesome exist even when drab, stone grey government and they suffering they cause looms high and wide over everyone. They can't take that away no matter what they repeatedly beat people over the head with. 

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

"You tell 'em Nick Cage smooch is good!"

Director
Tom Gormican

Cast

Nicolas Cage - Nick Cage

Pedro Pascal - Javi Gutierrez 

Sharon Horgan - Olivia

Lily Sheen - Addy

Tiffany Haddish - Vivian

Ike Baronholtz - Martin

Paco Leon - Lucas Gutierrez

Neil Patrick Harris - Richard Fink

Nobody can Nicolas Cage better than Nicolas Cage. He's so Nicolas Cage that he can be both verb, noun, and adjective all at once. Chuck Norris can't even do that.
Though I've seen my fair share of Nick Cage flicks, I've never considered myself a fan. And, really, I still don't. 

I think he emanates a cloud that smells like excessive conceit, and it's just too pungent for me. That's not to say he hasn't made any movies I like. He is, in mind, a celebrity's celebrity. If I had to paint the stereotypical Hollywood superstar actor, my image would resemble Cage very closely. Or, it would just be Nick Cage himself. 
After having seen Nick Cage in his recent film "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" (a title I can only guess came from the mind of Nick Cage, but clever none the less), released in April, I've eased up my generally negative opinions about Nick Cage. I found myself enjoying a Nick Cage movie in which Nick Cage plays Nick Cage. Well done, Nick Cage.
"Nicolas Cage... is incredible." "This guy's a fucking legend." Those are the first lines spoken in this movie. Actually the movie opens with dialogue from the 1997 Nick Cage movie "Con Air." A young couple watching that movie then throw out lines of praise to Nick Cage. 
In this movie, Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage (Nick Cage) finds himself caught in a CIA mission to find and rescue Maria (Katrin Vankova), the daughter of a Catalan anti-crime politician who's kidnapped at the start of the film. 
Before he's pulled into this operation, Nick Cage is struggling to land a new role in a movie as his name is being passed over by a major movie producer. 
His ex-wife Olivia (Sharon Horgan) is fed up with how engrossed in his acting life he has been. And his daughter Addy (Lily Sheen) feels like she has been emotionally neglected by her dad.
After Nick Cage looses out on a major movie role, he embarrasses himself at Addy's birthday party.
So, he decides to quit acting. 
Still, even Nick Cage needs money to pay the bills and clear some heavy debts. His agent, Richard Fink (Neil Patrick Harris) offers him an anonymous gig for $1 million. It involves travelling to Majorca to spend time with an extremely wealthy Nick Cage fan named Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal) and be the guest of honor at his birthday.
Nick Cage agrees to go. But little does Nick Cage know that the CIA suspects Gutierrez, whom they claim made his fortune through arms dealing, is responsible for Maria's kidnapping and may likely be keeping her on the property. 

Nick Cage as Nick Cage, and Pedro Pascal.

Agents Vivian Etten (Tiffany Haddish) and Martin Etten (Ike Barinholtz) contact Nick Cage about Gutierrez, asking him to spy and see what he can find out about Maria's whereabouts.
Nick Cage reluctantly agrees as he and Gutierrez have become good friends. He doubts whether he can go behind his new pal's back. 
Gutierrez wants Nick Cage to reconsider his decision to quit acting, and offers him a script he wrote. He hopes Nick Cage will consider it for production. And Nick Cage does. 
When I was forced against my will to watch the trailer prior to the movie I paid to see, my initial thought was "of course this is a Nick Cage movie."
"The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" is a tongue-in-cheek, somewhat cynical love letter to Nick Cage. It's one Nick Cage Easter egg after another. Not the bees! 
So much so that mashable.com published a list of every movie name dropped in this film, including all the Nick Cage movie titles. 

The film is like the cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," but with Nick Cage instead of the Beatles. And all the faces on the cover are all Nick Cage characters, especially from "Face Off." 
Nick Cage is certainly aware of his eccentric and self-loving public image. He's aware of what fans expect.
I found myself not only laughing at the jokes, but at Nick Cage being himself, or as audiences generally see him as an actor and a personality. 

One scene has Nick Cage stumbling upon the room where Gutierrez keeps his extensive Nick Cage paraphernalia collection.

Among his collection is a Nick Cage mannequin holding the golden guns from the movie "Face/Off" (*whispers* which stars Nick Cage).

Nick Cage stares at the likeness of himself and asks, "Is that supposed to be me? It's grotesque."

Then he offers Gutierrez $20,000 for it.

Nick Cage certainly has a lot of energy and interest in his previous film roles. It's often layered on rather thick, and I think that's the reason I don't get excited over Nick Cage movies. 

That's most definitely true here, especially as he plays both himself and his alter ego. His alter ego shows up randomly in the form of a younger Nick Cage, whom he calls "Nicky." When Nicky does show up, he kicks his older self back into the game and reminds him that he's not just an actor, he's a movie star. Nicky is the Nick Cage persona audiences have seen time and time again, in movie after Nick Cage movie - self-absorbed, rowdy, and a bit crazy.

Nick Cage and Pedro Pascal work incredibly well together. The casting choices are superb. 
Pascal plays his character as sympathetic, which he pulls off beautifully. Sometimes, its as though Pascal is the sidekick in this team. Other times, Nick Cage seems like the sidekick.
This is a buddy film with some originality thrown in. I hope to see Nick Cage and Pascal together again in a later film. I'd love to see these two earn a place among other famed comedy duos. 

"The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" is certainly a Nick Cage fan-base movie. Regardless, I had fun watching it. 
And on top of everything else, Cage and I both love "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." Maybe Nick Cage is starting to grow on me a little.