Over in the “annoying characters in otherwise decent movies” thread, much poopy was thrown at Nicolas Cage: he stank in everything, he’s only in Hollywood by virtue of his family name, he eats orphans. I deny these assertions.
But before we get to that, the point:
This is a thread where I ask you, fellow Doper, to champion your favorite, often maligned actor or actress. Keanu Reeves lovers, show yourselves. Annie McDowell afficianados, stand proud.
I want to hear actors who you think are terrible, who you can’t believe get top billing again and again.* And I’d like to hear people who like them come to their defense. Because, really, when you get down to it, the Cages and Keanus of this world are only in movies because those movies their make money; no amount of clout or name recognition is a free pass for losing a studio tens of millions of dollars. You might think they’re hacks, but they’re doing something right. I want to know what that is.
I’ll start with Nicolas Cage.
For a while, I hated Nicolas Cage. I thought he mugged his way through movies, relying on a mixture of the “what’s going on here?” face and the “I know exactly what’s going on here” face. Putting aside movies like “Raising Arizona” and “Moonstruck” and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” movies I doubt Cage haters would mention, I’ll concentrate on his admittedly shlocky-er fare. To put it succinctly: I simply find Cage incredibly invested in everything he’s in. It’s like Christian Bale in “Reign of Fire”: I think Cage knows that “Gone in 60 Seconds” is crappy, that “Wickerman” is a weakass, pointless remake, but he simply doesn’t show it. He soldiers on in an almost maniacal, crazy-eyed way that I find totally endearing. He drags the movie on to its conclusion, even if nobody else is willing to try (“WIckerman” is a great example of this. He probably has back pain from carrying that movie for two solid hours). There’s no winking aside like Bruce Willis does (“I understand this movie sucks too, movie patron”)—he just goes for it and lets the chips falls where they may. He doesn’t play himself either—he’s no great character actor, certainly, but his parts always have a certain, distinct flair to them—contrary to, say, Tom Cruise. And he plays the “bewildered everyman” really well. The “shithouse crazy bewildered everyman” even better.
I just like me some Cage.
So, please, defend your favorites, listen to reasoning for your least favorites. I’m curious to see why some actors I loathe and assume everyone else does too are still millionaire box office surethings.
- though it’s certainly fine to defend/nominate oft maligned actors who aren’t top bill names—I mentioned Annie MacDowell. In fact, please, help me out on that one. She makes me so sad.