But the fun and games themselves… sheesh. The mere fact that Actual Nicolas Cage shows up in this scenario blows the minds of the two CIA agents down there, played by a disappointing Ike Barinholtz and a sorely underused Tiffany Haddish. They trade film titles as if all we’re playing is Cage Bingo. “Nic Cage, from Moonstruck! No, I raise you Con Air and Face/Off! Wait, didn’t he do lead voice duties in The Croods 2?”
This is almost the actual dialogue. Essentially, the whole thing is like having Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons recite highlights from Cage’s IMDb page, then whip out his phone to play clips while digging you in the ribs.
One of very few Cage pictures that doesn’t get a mention is Adaptation (2002), perhaps because there’s no hope of referencing that film’s meta-malarkey – Cage played both a version of blocked screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his fictitious, idiotic twin brother Donald – without getting hopelessly entangled.
This film is very much like a low-IQ version of a Kaufman idea, though; in fact, it even makes Donald’s ideas look good. It spins off into utterly routine third-act car chases and Cage’s own daughter (Lily Sheen) being abducted by mobsters, simply because those are the elements everyone’s favourite Cage films, especially the beloved Con Air, are meant to have.
Amid all this, the other actors (including game Sharon Horgan as a fictitious ex-wife) often look flummoxed by what they’re meant to be doing. A feeling of “Is this it?” pervades. Even as fan worship, it has a bemusing insincerity, or perhaps you could say that it’s shallow worship: mere lip-service to the cult of Cage.
Of course, it asks him to bellow a few times, and he duly does a parody of a full-throated Cage wig-out – the kind you might imagine him ad libbing to humour autograph fiends. With the filmmakers almost palpably high-fiving between these takes, it’s no surprise they wind up with a star performance that has to count as one of this star’s most strenuous. Treated as this zoo exhibit, he isn’t unleashed to express himself creatively. He’s caged.
15 cert, 107 min. In cinemas from Friday April 22
