For the first 1/3 of the movie, I thought the parody of Nicolas Cage's career and life may have been taken too far. The cringe level was kept very high, and I was embarrassed to watch. However, as the plot started to push forward, the characters moved with it and made for an enjoyable movie. I laughed pretty hard at a few scenes, and the ending was satisfying. It just took a long time to change my mind from disappointed to appreciative.

The good stuff:
** Pedro Pascal (Wonder Woman 1984) was excellent as Javi, an unassuming "crime boss" that just wanted to meet Ncolas Cage. Javi was funny while maintaining appropriate levels of badassery to help the audience believe his lifestyle.
** During the scenes where Nic Cage is trying to be a hero, he actually looks like an actor playing a live action star without choreographed moves. As such, the character wings a lot of it, sometimes to hilarious ends.

The bummers:
-- I guess I'm just not a fan of Tiffany Haddish. At no point is she believable as a CIA agent. I'm not saying Ike Barinholtz is either, but at least he was comic relief. She just makes me question the casting director.
-- Cage's absence from his family's life to pursue his career would have been enough to believe his current status, but the hubris was a little over the top. The cringe level was almost too much to keep watching.

I was floating along with 4/10 stars in my mind for a while, then added two stars when the plot kicked in and when we got to see more of Pedro Pascal. The movie was OK, but it wasn't good enough to require that you see it in theaters.