SYNOPSIS: In “Anaconda,” a new comedy starring Jack Black, Paul Rudd and Thandiwe Newton now playing in theatres, a group of lifelong friends get more than they bargained for when they act on their childhood dream of making a movie.
CAST: Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, Thandiwe Newton, Daniela Melchior, and Selton Mello. Directed by Tom Gormican.
REVIEW: Is “Anaconda” a remake of the cheesy 1997 JLo action horror film, or is it an homage, a parody, or a “spiritual sequel” as Jack Black’s character calls the movie-within-the-movie? Truth is, it’s all those things.
Ronald (Paul Rudd) and Doug (Jack Black) were inspired to make movies after watching the 1997 cult film “Anaconda” over thirty times in theatres. Their homemade flick, a Bigfoot inspired monster movie called “Squatch” didn’t lead to bigger things, and now Doug makes wedding videos in his hometown while Ronald struggles to make a go of it as an actor in Los Angeles.
Reunited at Doug’s birthday, Ronald announces that he has the rights to “Anaconda.”
“What are you going to do with them?” asks Doug.
“Not me,” Ronald says. “Us.”
He convinces Doug and pals Kenny (Steve Zahn) and Claire (Thandiwe Newton) to remake the Jlo actioner “indie style” on location in the Amazon.
Once on site their lo-fi shoot spirals out of control as they get involved with Illegal gold miners, an off-kilter snake wrangler and a real anaconda the size of a dinosaur. We came out here to make Anaconda,” says Doug, “and now we’re in it.”
“Anaconda” is a silly but amiable and enjoyable story of following your dreams. Doug and Ronald are lovable losers, in a shared mid-life crisis, whose optimism is infectious, even when they’re being chased by a giant snake.
Most of the humour is character driven, from Black’s high-energy routine and Rudd’s immaculate timing to Zahn’s scene stealing stoner act and Newton’s up-for-anything Claire. They’re a fun ensemble that keeps the laughs coming, even when the movie leans into the horror dynamic in the film’s second half, which is a good thing given that the horror isn’t scary and the action is shot mostly in close-ups which narrows the focus in the big set pieces. But no matter, you’ll likely be laughing too much to mind.
As a comedy based on the unintentionally funny original film, “Anaconda” lovingly pokes fun at the original 1997 movie, while simultaneously celebrating its cheeseball charm.
There is perfect casting and then there is Nicolas Cage, playing a heightened version of himself in “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” a meta new action comedy now playing in theatres.
Off screen Cage is a larger-than-life character, an Oscar winner known for his penchant for purchasing dinosaur skulls, tax troubles and wildly uneven cinematic output. He brings the weight of that public persona to this movie, making myth out of his own legend of self-indulgence.
Cage plays Cage as a faded Hollywood prince. Once a box office draw, he’s down on his luck, going broke and in need of a big money gig. He has become the White Claw of serious actors. He’s good, but no one with taste is taking him seriously.
Producers, scared off by his wild-at-heart reputation, give him the Hollywood kiss off. We love you, but are going in a different direction.
Depressed, he decides to leave Hollywood. “I’m done,” he says. “I’m quitting acting. Tell the trades it was a tremendous honour to be part of storytelling and myth-making.”
Before he leaves the life, he gets an offer he can’t refuse. Olive magnate Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal) will pay Cage a million dollars to attend his birthday bash in Mallorca. The actor reluctantly agrees, and soon finds himself drinking and cliff-diving at Javi’s beautiful estate.
Javi is a huge fan, with a collection of cage collectibles. “Is this supposed to be me?” cage asks, gesturing at a statue of himself. “It’s grotesque. I’ll give you twenty thousand for it.”
Turns out the starstruck Javi isn’t what he appears. “Do you know who you’re spending time with?” CIA agent Vivian (Tiffany Haddish) asks Cage. “He’s one of the most ruthless men on the face of the earth.” They think Javi kidnapped the daughter of the president of Catalonia to influence an upcoming election.
Vivian and Agent Martin (Ike Barinholtz) recruit Cage to work undercover on Javi’s estate to get to the bottom of the case. “That little girl doesn’t have anyone,” says Vivian, “and if you leave, I don’t know what will happen to her.”
It’s a chance to do some good, but for Cage, it is also the role of a lifetime.
“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” is an entertaining, oddball movie. Essentially a one joke premise—i.e.: Cage as Cage—it plays with the tropes of many of Cage’s films, but doesn’t play as strictly homage or satire. It’s something else. What, exactly, I’m not quite sure.
It’s almost as if this is Nic Cage’s screw you to the folks who deride him for being a working actor who pumps out two or three movies a year. “I’ve always seen this as a job, as work,” he says, as though he feels bogged down by the weight of the critical appraisal of his artistic choices.
But this isn’t a movie about score settling. It’s a silly action comedy, unabashedly interested in entertaining the audience. It occasionally errs, mistaking familiar references from Cage’s filmography for jokes. It’s that “meme-ification”—the pinpointing of Cage call-backs—of the film’s humour that prevents it from becoming a knee slapper all the way through. There are laugh out loud moments, but there are more moments that feel more Instagram ready than cinematic.
Still, “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” is a good time, worth the price of admission to see young Cage advising older Cage and commit the most surreal example of actorly self-love ever seen on film.
