I understand and, to a lesser extent, accept, that Nicolas Cage isn't for everyone. He goes so big that it's sometimes hard to know whether he's acting or just becoming the character, transcending this planet we call Earth and becoming a being of pure mega-acting. As a performer, his talent is questioned by everyone from my mom to critics to that legendary episode of "Community," where Abed has a nervous breakdown because he can't decide whether Cage is "good" or "bad." The only thing that pulls him out of it is to realize that it's Cage's nature to be inscrutable.
I've been hyped for months to see Cage's new film "Longlegs," where he plays his first-ever serial killer and, in marketing so brilliant that it's hard to quantify, they never showed what he looked or sounded like in a single trailer. After watching "Longlegs" and being extremely let down (it beautifully passes the vibe check and that's about it), I was left with three main thoughts about Nic Cage: 1. I have no idea if he's good in "Longlegs," 2. Is Cage the reincarnation of Andy Kaufman and that mad genius-level of performance art and 3. What is the difference between a "good" Cage performance and a "bad" one? In order to answer these questions, let's take a look at some of his work.
AMAZING CAGE:
"Raising Arizona"
As H.I. McDunnough, Cage combines his bottomless charisma with the storytelling bravu-ra of the Coen brothers to create a hangdog criminal so lovably simple and charming that he has remained one of the most endearing characters in cinema history. Cage makes it look easy to be a leading man.
Cage's best line delivery: "I'll be taking these Huggies and whatever cash you got."
"Pig"
What could have been a brain-dead riff on "John Wick" is instead a mournful and elegiac look at Rob Feld, a Portland chef who lost everything and moved out into the woods with his broken heart and beloved truffle pig. When the pig is stolen, Cage traverses the underground culinary scene of PDX searching for his friend and only finds disappointment and regret. Cage proves here that he doesn't need to go huge to create a beautiful and memorable character.
Cage's best line delivery: "We don't get a lot of things to really care about."
"Adaptation"
Playing twin brothers Charlie and Donald Kaufman, Cage creates two identical characters with such different inner lives that it's easy to forget that you're looking at a single actor playing the roles. It's a deeply complicated and nuanced performance that goes pretty far into the weeds in proving the level of technical and intuitive genius of Cage.
Cage's best line delivery: "You and I share the same DNA. Is there anything more lonely than that?"
There are a million more indelible Nic Cage performances. Films like "Leaving Las Vegas," "Bringing Out the Dead," "Wild at Heart," "Face/Off" and "Mandy" just barely scratch the surface of his brilliance.
PAYCHECK CAGE:
Nic Cage spends a lot of money. At one time he owned a dinosaur skull and the most haunted mansion in New Orleans. The man is eccentric. He invented his own acting style. He spent around a decade making lots of terrible movies that he looked really sleepy in. If you want to see Cage at his absolute worst, check out:"Left Behind"
Remaking a Kirk Cameron movie has to be the low point of Cage. Like, it doesn't matter what he does the rest of his career, it could never get worse than this. As pilot Rayford Steele (!!), Cage looks sad, defeated and deep into the throes of an existential crisis.
Cage's worst line delivery: "I need some room!"
"The Humanity Bureau"
Cage IS Noah Kross, an adjuster in a future with no resources who interviews Americans to see if they are "productive" and "efficient." Looks like it was shot in someone's backyard. At turns boring, dumb, ridiculous and infuriating.
Cage's worst line delivery: "Let the revolution begin."
There are so many more terrible Nic Cage movies. If you want to go down a rabbit hole of watching Cage look like he doesn't even know where he is, check out the ridiculous thriller "Be-tween Worlds," the low-budget ludicrousness of "Primal" or the brain-dead horror rip-off "Willy's Wonderland."
INSCRUTABLE CAGE:
"The Wicker Man:"
Objectively a terrible movie. Subjectively iconic forever.
Cage's most Cage-worthy delivery: "OH NO! NOT THE BEES! AAAAAAAGHHHH, THEY'RE IN MY EYES! MY EYES!"
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans"
Cage IS Terence McDonagh, a bad cop and an even shittier person. I think this is a good movie, possibly even a great one. Nic Cage is maybe good, but definitely overacting. He's for sure overshadowed by a great Val Kilmer performance. Cage transcends labels here. He is a shaman of acting.
Cage's most Cage-worthy delivery: "You don't have a lucky crack pipe?"
I love Nic Cage. I always will. He doesn't always make movies better and sometimes actively makes them worse. But we're not always at our best. We're not always good at our jobs. We have bad days. Nic Cage is the people's performer. Inconsistently brilliant. Sporadically bad. Just like us.
I wish I liked "Longlegs" more, because he genuinely tries to create a horrifying creature to haunt my nightmares that I ultimately found kind of silly, but I respect his attempt. Cage will al-ways get me in the door of a theater. Not because I know whether he'll be good or bad, but because he has earned it, one inscrutable portrait at a time.
