Every year a company called The Blacklist publishes a list of the most popular unproduced scripts, as voted on by several hundred film executives. This list is a common marketing tool for up and coming screenwriters to generate interest and secure work. However, because of the way the list is put together, producibility often takes a backseat to memorability, with high-concept, attention grabbing scripts outperforming the more budget conscious scripts. On the extreme end of this spectrum, this list can sometimes even include scripts that are downright unproducible. For example, the 2021 list included what essentially was a Harry Potter fan fiction. Given that the author almost certainly doesn't own the rights to that IP, that script has little chance of being produced and likely will serve only as a writing sample. Back in 2019, there was another script that seemingly had very little chance of being produced: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Writing a script that hinges not only on securing a particular A-List actor, but also having that actor be willing to play a satirical version of themselves... that's a low odds play. All of this is to say, the most impressive thing about this film is that it exists at all.
Regarding the film itself, it was exactly what I expected. The relationship and humor between Nicholas Cage and Pedro Pascal's character is enough to carry a straight forward plot that doesn't take itself seriously. While some of the supporting cast don't have much of an impact (e.g. CIA agents Ike Barinholtz and Tiffany Haddish), none of them get enough screen time to bog things down. If you enjoy Nicolas Cage and are familiar with his filmography, there is a good time to be had.
As an aside, I had a chance to read the script about a year back. While I don't remember the details well enough to do a full compare/contrast, generally speaking the film seemed quite faithful to the original script, which again speaks to the chops of a screenwriter who was willing to write a "for fun" script that he probably never dreamed would make it to the big screen.
Review by SkinnyFilmBuffVIP 8BlockedParent2022-04-30T16:26:38Z
Every year a company called The Blacklist publishes a list of the most popular unproduced scripts, as voted on by several hundred film executives. This list is a common marketing tool for up and coming screenwriters to generate interest and secure work. However, because of the way the list is put together, producibility often takes a backseat to memorability, with high-concept, attention grabbing scripts outperforming the more budget conscious scripts. On the extreme end of this spectrum, this list can sometimes even include scripts that are downright unproducible. For example, the 2021 list included what essentially was a Harry Potter fan fiction. Given that the author almost certainly doesn't own the rights to that IP, that script has little chance of being produced and likely will serve only as a writing sample. Back in 2019, there was another script that seemingly had very little chance of being produced: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Writing a script that hinges not only on securing a particular A-List actor, but also having that actor be willing to play a satirical version of themselves... that's a low odds play. All of this is to say, the most impressive thing about this film is that it exists at all.
Regarding the film itself, it was exactly what I expected. The relationship and humor between Nicholas Cage and Pedro Pascal's character is enough to carry a straight forward plot that doesn't take itself seriously. While some of the supporting cast don't have much of an impact (e.g. CIA agents Ike Barinholtz and Tiffany Haddish), none of them get enough screen time to bog things down. If you enjoy Nicolas Cage and are familiar with his filmography, there is a good time to be had.
As an aside, I had a chance to read the script about a year back. While I don't remember the details well enough to do a full compare/contrast, generally speaking the film seemed quite faithful to the original script, which again speaks to the chops of a screenwriter who was willing to write a "for fun" script that he probably never dreamed would make it to the big screen.