Nicolas Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent review

REVIEW: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (15)

Nicolas Cage gleefully parodies his screen persona in this Hollywood satire, which is released on Friday.

The actor is known for eccentric, over the top performances which vary in quality and manic intensity.

Here, 'Nick Cage' is in midlife crisis: he can't connect with his ex-wife Olivia (Sharon Horgan) and daughter (Lily Sheen), and seeks a character-based role.

When this is rebuffed after flubbing a meeting with the director he has to support his high-spending Hollywood lifestyle and reluctantly resorts to 'taking the money'. In this case it's a $1 million offer to attend a wealthy superfan's (Javi Gutierrez, played by Pedro Pascal) birthday party.

Along the way Nick is recruited by CIA operative Tiffany Haddish who suspects Javi's island is a front for organised crime.

Nick is meanwhile plagued by numerous reminders of previous roles including visions of his Wild at Heart character Sailor Ripley which is accomplished by dodgy CGI de-ageing technology.

Cage has form with this type of meta-movie. In Adaptation (2002) he played real-life writer Charlie Kaufman (plus Kaufman's twin 'Donald'), who actually fashioned the screenplay and who in the film agonises over the fictional adaptation of 'The Orchid Thief'.

Unfortunately Unbearable Weight... doesn't 'stick the landing'. It lapses into formula and resembles a buddy movie like Lethal Weapon during the third act, although Pascal and Cage do have a few funny moments together.

Incidentally, Kaufman was Oscar-nominated and won a BAFTA for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for Adaptation.

I'll wager Unbearable Weight... director Tom Gormican, who also co-wrote the screenplay, will not garner any similar awards.

Cage fans, of course, will love the many references to Face/Off, The Wicker Man and much more including some obscure films in his almost 40-year career.

For the more casual viewer, a promising set-up is largely left to waste in the final half-hour but credit to Cage for sending himself up.

• Any easter eggs? Tons. "The Bees", for example.

Peter Woodhouse