Well, color me surprised.
Nicolas Cage has been turning out mostly violent stinkers like a man determined to secure a permanent place in the Razzie Hall of Shame: 39 films (!) in the past decade alone — the pandemic didn’t slow him down a jot — and that’s not including the four animated films to which he lent his voice.
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| Although initially wary of collaborating on a movie script with a newbie writer, Nick (Nicolas Cage, right) finds it hard to resist Javi Gutierrez's (Pedro Pascal) enthusiasm. |
I therefore approached this one with a gimlet eye, particularly since the exploitative advertising campaign gave no reason for optimism.
So much for assumptions.
Director Tom Gormican’s send-up of Cage — his career, reputation, fan base and constant financial peril — isn’t merely impudently self-referential; this audacious script, co-written by Gormican and Kevin Etten, is the most meta of meta. It’s a cheerfully deranged valentine to the “Cult of Cage,” those touchingly loyal fans — apparently they are legion — willing to forgive even his most deplorable turkeys.
This one’s no turkey. It’s actually quite entertaining, and frequently hilarious.
We meet Nick Cage (Cage, of course) down on his cinematic luck, desperate for the comeback potential of a film role championed by his perpetually harassed agent, Richard Fink (Neil Patrick Harris). Nick’s personal life is a disaster; his narcissistic megalomania has poisoned his relationships with ex-wife Olivia (Sharon Horgan) and teenage daughter Addy (Lily Sheen).
Cage is hard to watch, during these early scenes; his effort to upstage Addy’s 16th birthday is particularly cringe-worthy. He’s also prone to arguing with a younger version of himself — think lanky, long-haired, bomber jacket-garbed Cage Mark 1, from the Raising Arizona/Wild at Heart era — who personifies his worst characteristics.
And yes: This display of dual Cages is a deliberate nod to the peculiar twin roles he played in Adaptation. Indeed, identifying all the riffs from Cage’s (better known) earlier films quickly becomes part of the game; some are name-checked, some are film clips being watched by various characters, some are replayed scenes (the one from Leaving Las Vegas being the most obvious).
Anyway…
The film role falls through, but something else comes up: a $1 million offer merely to attend the birthday party of Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal, famed as The Mandalorian), an unabashed superfan who lives in a lavish estate on the gorgeous Spanish island of Majorca. Although understandably wary, Nick is immediately put at ease, upon arrival, by the sincere depth of Javi’s respect and appreciation.
You’d think the mutual flattery, back-slapping and bonhomie would be eye-rolling, but the opposite is true; Cage and Pascal play this rapidly developing bromance with such seriousness, such over-the-top sincerity, that it’s riotous. By this point, we well and truly believe this film’s impudent premise, which has become irresistible.
On top of which, Javi has written a script — don’t all fans do that? — for a film that he hopes Nick will star in. They therefore begin to blue-sky plot points, character development, marketing and every other aspect of filmmaking, with Gormican and Etten’s script deliciously skewering all aspects of Hollywood in the process.
Alas…
Turns out CIA operatives Vivian (Tiffany Haddish) and Martin (Ike Barinholtz) have been surveilling Javi for five years, because he’s actually a notorious drug baron responsible for the recent kidnapping of a prominent politician’s daughter. They believe she’s being held somewhere on Javi’s well-guarded estate, but lack any means of access.
Since Nick has the run of the place, they recruit him to act as an amateur spy.
Yep, track the thread: Cage, an actor, is playing himself, an actor, who becomes a reluctant CIA agent who, when in Javi’s presence, must continue to pretend that he’s just an actor. (Whew!)
The worst part is that Nick finds it hard to believe that Javi is malevolent … until suspicion kicks in. Suddenly Pascal’s smiles seem a little too forced, his gaze a shade too mocking, his posture a touch too lethal.
Let it be said: Nobody plays paranoia better than flustered, goggle-eyed Nicolas Cage.
Subsequent set-pieces are right out of Comedic Action Flicks 101A, and Gormican doesn’t miss a trick. The line between reality and “reality” blurs until it disappears completely, with considerable amusement along the way.
Best and funniest scene by far: Nick’s nervous, flustered, ham-handed effort to penetrate Javi’s locked security room.
Cage throws himself into this high-concept nonsense with total conviction, having not the slightest concern about trashing his own reputation; indeed, he relishes it. Pascal is just as dedicated, with Javi’s wild mood swings matching Cage’s.
Horgan’s Olivia is an unexpected calm in this cyclone: a voice of reason trying her best to make allowances for her ex’s weird behavior. Sheen, in turn, is so persuasive as the perpetually embarrassed and humiliated Addy, that we grieve for her.
Haddish is a hoot as the spunky, resourceful Vivian: determined to take advantage of this unexpected chance, despite Nick’s fumble-fingered incompetence. (She also gets the best single-word one-liner.) Barinholtz’s forever exasperated Martin is the yin to her yang.
The tech credits are top-notch, and editor Melissa Bretherton keeps things moving at a lively pace. Mark Isham’s energetic score is blended with a handful of well-placed pop tunes, none better used than Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Down on the Corner.”
This truly is a lot of fun; just relax, and go with the flow.
(Although it’ll help if you scored high marks in Nicolas Cage 101A.)
I loved this review (and the film), but boy, this reads like the movie should have at least scored four stars!
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