Cinema: the unbearable weight of Nicolas Cage's self-indulgence... (but still good fun)

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, (15), (107 mins), Cineworld Cinemas

Nicolas Cage sends himself up gleefully in this enjoyable, likeable, quickly forgettable action adventure spoof.

There is a huge slice of wallowing self-indulgence given that Nicolas Cage is playing Nicolas Cage, but there are sufficient laughs, some of them decent ones, to make the whole thing romp along nicely.

The gist is that the Cage of the movie is a washed-up embittered has-been, someone who used to be famous but is now desperately touting himself for the big parts he is never going to get. He is furious with the world, estranged from his wife and daughter and repeatedly berated by his even more angry doppelganger younger self.

And he hams it up merrily, playing the kind of utterly narcissistic performer that all performers like to think they are light years away from becoming.

When the latest role he is hankering for is whisked away before his very eyes, he scrapes the bottom of the barrel and grudgingly accepts a hugely well paid appearance fee, announcing to the world, though mostly to himself, that it will be his swansong before bad-temperedly retiring from the profession.

Can he redeem himself? He’s soon given plenty of chances to do so when the CIA intercept him and tell him that the man who has employed him Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal) has kidnapped and is holding a top politician’s daughter.

Things take a further nosedive when Nicolas’ sweary wife Olivia (Sharon Horgan – who seems just a bit out of place in it all) and moody daughter Addy (Lily Mo Sheen) turn up and Addy is quickly kidnapped too.

Can Nicolas, the once all-action hero, stir his stumps, find his long-lost mojo, and turn adventure hero once again? Superkeen to help him is his host Javi who turns out to be a Nicolas Cage superfan.

Yep, the self-indulgence of it all really does plunge that deep…

In fact, it goes even deeper than that. There are plenty of references to Nicolas Cage’s films throughout, and presumably if you were a superfan on Javi’s level, there are also endless more subtle references for you to chuckle over.

There’s no escaping the fact that the whole thing really does have the whiff of in-joke hanging all over it, which is probably not quite as damaging as the fact that you also start to suspect that Nicolas Cage is enjoying himself far, far more than you are.

But as the lightest kind of light entertainment, it’s pacy, engagingly acted and, at times during Nicolas Cage’s transformation, it is also surprisingly touching.

Pedro Pascal somehow doesn’t seem a natural comic as Javi, and Horgan’s role as the wife doesn’t really give her terribly much to do apart from F-bomb her way through patchy dialogue.

But then again, why on earth would Nicolas Cage give anyone else too much of a look-in in a film which sends up the cult of Nicolas Cage while also subtly venerating it? Producer Nicolas, actor Nicolas and doppelganger Nicolas are having a right old laugh. Best not interrupt them.

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