Director: Tom Gormican

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish, Sharon Horgan, Lily Mo Sheen, Ike Barinholtz

Nicolas Cage plays Nicolas Cage in this ambitious but disappointing Meta comedy adventure. When we meet this particularly self-absorbed version of the actor, he is feeling creatively uninspired and is beset by money problems. He’s also struggling to connect with his teenage daughter Addy (Sheen) who is smarting from Cage’s impeding divorce from his artist wife Olivia (Horgan). Then his agent announces that he has received an offer from Spanish billionaire and obsessive fan Javi (Pascal) for Cage to attend a party for one million dollars. The actor agrees and, initially, he and Javi bond over acid trips and their shared love of the star, although Cage has to put off Javi’s insistence that he has to read a self-penned script he is hawking. Then Cage is contacted by a pair of CIA agents Vivian (Haddish) and Martin (Barinholtz) who believe that Javi may be involved in the kidnapping of a Central American diplomat’s daughter. Seeing a new purpose the actor agrees to go underground. Fans of Cage’s ‘Nouveau Shamanic’ acting style will find much to love in his typically committed gonzo performance and not-so-subtle nods to his earlier roles. Admittedly, a CGI de-aged incarnation of one of his earlier characters who shows up to give mostly bad advice is very amusing. Pascal is game too, if a little muggy at times. The novelty is exhausted about midway in though, and director Gormican displays little aptitude for the action scenes. This is more bagatelle than legitimate self-supporting movie.