The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs
2. The Impressive Visual Effects
Though it's clear that Massive Talent didn't employ much CGI at all per its evidently low-ish budget, VFX were employed extensively for one of the film's most outrageous recurring gags.
Throughout the movie Nic experiences hallucinations of "Nicky Cage," a younger version of himself from around the period of 1990's Wild at Heart, who frequently torments him about the state of his career.
Nicky was clearly achieved through digital de-aging tech, and considering this film's considerably lower budget than, say, an MCU movie, the end result is shockingly good for the most part.
That's not to say there isn't a slight uncanny valley vibe to the whole thing - which, honestly, totally works in enhancing the strangeness of the gag - but it certainly looks leagues ahead of, for example, Catherine Keener's horrid de-aging in the recent Netflix's blockbuster The Adam Project.
The weirdness of watching Nic Cage interact with a mostly plausible younger version of himself cannot be overstated - and it's glorious.