It is rare when an A list actor is prepared to spoof or even punk himself on screen. Rarer still is when said actor is prepared to laugh about himself and play up his weaknesses. Nevertheless, Nicolas Cage has now done it and it is something to behold. It is a reminder that actors all too often take themselves far too seriously. I would remind them of the Greek word for play actor— ‘hupocrites’ from which we get the word—- well, you know. A person who seems to be one person but really is another, and plays the fictional person on the stage. The problem with this movie is where to draw the line between the real Nick Cage and the various parts he plays in this movie.
So what part does he play in this movie? An actor on the decline, who is in counseling, and deep in the bottle, and deep in debt, and has an ex-wife, and not a good relationship with his daughter, who he seems to be trying to constantly make over into his own image. In short, a narcissistic person in the extreme. Who knew such people existed in Hollywood? Perish the thought.
There are many things that are good about this unique film, including some hysterical scenes (see the trailer). In some ways it is like one of Shakespeare’s plays within a play, or a movie about a movie script and making it come to life on the silver screen. The movie is set primarily in Majorca in Spain, and low and behold, Nick Cage gets roped into working for the CIA along the way, which in itself is pretty funny. The movie lasts one hour and 46 minutes and involves a variety of faux violence, chase scenes, stupid stunts, in short a typical summer blockbuster before we even get to summer. This movie should come however with an F bomb warning, and that word unnecessarily keeps showing up again and again throughout the film and as a result has an R rating, mainly for language. I would remind Hollywood that over use of such words shows a lack of actual imagination and vocabulary, and frankly the movie would have been better without F bombs being spread like manure all over the story. It is not a movie to take your children to, not least because it has a subplot about kidnapping children. But as an adult film, it is well worth seeing, and has earned its 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I suspect it will get various Oscar nominations, in the comedy category probably.
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