The thing about Nicolas Cage is that he is a very specific type of actor. When he’s in a movie that suits his talents, he shines, and often in ways that other actors couldn’t. The National Treasure movies wouldn’t have worked as well with any other lead actor, and Raising Arizona would absolutely have tanked with anyone else in that role. His role in Kick-Ass was… I’m not saying nobody else could have done it, but I’m glad they understood who this role was for. His turn as Dracula was pure gold.
(I have no idea what the fuck happened with Leaving Las Vegas. That wasn’t a Nic Cage role, it shouldn’t have worked, but man earned the Oscar.)
And the thing is, even when he’s playing whackjob roles that require the actor to put their ego in cold storage, he does the work. Every now and then you’ll hear about an actor who absolutely killed it in a role that they totally hated– Sir Alec as the original Obi-Wan, for example– but that’s not what this is. This is a case of just not being too proud. This is the guy who uses a screen name so that he’s not exploiting his uncle’s name in the industry.
And most importantly, even when he’s in a bad movie– it’s fun, because it’s a Nic Cage Movie™.