The following contains spoilers for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, now playing in theaters.
In The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Nicolas Cage took quite a few meta shots at his old movies. It didn't matter if they were successes or flops, as he joked about Face/Off, Snake Eyes and Con Air. But apart from his action movies, he also played up his dramatic and romantic roles, per Moonstruck.
The film also paid tribute to one of Cage's most iconic rom-coms, Honeymoon in Vegas. However, rather than addressing it directly, Unbearable Weight got cheeky, using a massive celebrity cameo that tied in an Indecent Proposal deep cut that fans of the '90s would adore.
The moment occurred in the finale when Cage took his family to the U.S. Embassy on the Spanish island they were being held after Javi (Pedro Pascal) brought them over to iron out personal problems. Cage was pursued by Lucas, with the villain eager to kill him for selling Lucas' gang out to the CIA. Inside the compound, though, Cage channeled his inner-hero, stabbing Lucas with a knife and then rushing to embrace his wife, Olivia, and daughter, Addy.
However, the scene then cut to the movie that he and Javi were working on, much to the applause of the audience. It had Demi Moore playing Olivia, hugging and kissing Cage. It was an over-the-top Hollywood moment, and while Moore didn't have any lines, her presence was very poignant, poking fun at an old Hollywood creative rivalry. This revolved around 1992's Honeymoon in Vegas where Cage's Jack accepted an offer for his wife, Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker), with a rich gambler, Tommy (James Caan), promising to clear the couple's poker debt.
They were down on their luck, so they agreed. Jack, however, made it clear they couldn't sleep together. Betsy, though, eventually contemplated getting married to Tommy, who took her away, sensing he had a shot given that Jack was afraid of marriage. Luckily, she'd return to Jack for a happily ever after. Ironically, a year later, Hollywood's critics and fans were vocal when Indecent Proposal came out, which had a similar plot.
It was conceived before Cage's film, but arrived after, focusing on Woody Harrelson's David also agreeing to offer his wife up to Robert Redford's Gage to wipe his own poker debt clean. Except this deal did involve sex. The kicker was, David's wife, Diana, was played by Moore, who actually fell in love with Gage, married him and left David with the money before regretting her actions.
Thus, Moore's cameo here brought it all full-circle, compounded by a couple jokes Cage made early on. He warned his agent and Javi on separate occasions that his appearance on the island was to just make money to clear up his own debts. Cage wasn't interested in voyeurism, orgies and most of all, partner-swapping. Ultimately, this made Moore's appearance in the end even funnier given her and Cage's past with swinging, whether emotionally or physically, in these '90s movies.
See how Moore and Indecent Proposal got looped into The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, now playing in theaters.
