"I knew you would understand what I was trying to do with this film."
When I first heard the idea of Nic Cage playing a fictionalized version of himself I was on board immediately but then I began to have doubts. We all love Nic Cage but would it just end up being two hours of making fun of him? Thankfully it's more than that and I had a ball with this.
Nick Cage (Nicholas Cage) is struggling financially and when he fails to get a lucrative film role is forced to take up the offer of being paid to attend a wealthy super-fan's birthday party. Cage gets on really well with Javi (Pedro Pascal) but then finds himself recruited by the CIA who think Javi is behind the kidnapping of a young girl.
The Nic Cage side of this film is great. It's pokes fun at the actor in a gentle way but it always feels like it is coming from a place of love. Cage himself seems more than happy to parody himself and has great fun here, especially in scenes where he interacts with an imaginary Wild at Heart-era version of himself (complete with some of the best de-aging I've seen). There's also references to a fair chunk of Cage's filmography which is a lot of fun too.
The film is less a parody and more of a buddy comedy between Nic and Javi. Pedro Pascal is great here and has clearly being taking notes from Mandalorian co-star Grogu as he makes Javi similarly warm and likeable, though whilst still leaving the possibility than he may be a dangerous criminal. Cage and Pascal work really well together here and the highlight of the film is a drug trip which is just so much fun.
The film does lose it's way a little in the final section when it leans more towards action than comedy- it should have focused more on the latter. Indeed, the plot is often far more complicated than it needs to be and is totally silly, although it's hardly the first time Cage has headlined a film with an absurd plot.
There's a further meta idea in the film with Javi and Nic writing a screenplay that closely resembles the plot of this film as they are writing it. The idea kind of ran out of steam after a while but it was fun to start with and leads into a fun final scene where Nic Cage is playing a fictional Nic Cage who is also playing a fictional Nic Cage.
Partly a nice celebration of Nic Cage but mostly just a really warm and fun film.
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