Leaving Las Vegas & 9 Other Non-Ironic Great Nicolas Cage Movies
Nicolas Cage is truly one-of-a-kind. The singular talent has created one of the most inconsistent and utterly enthralling filmographies of any presently working actor in Hollywood, ranging from prestige dramas to direct-to-video fare. Whenever Cage appears in a film, regardless of the pedigree of the project, the audience can always expect an unhinged performance from Hollywood's most unpredictable actor.
Cage has reached a sort of cult status in recent decades, with plenty of ironic Cage-themed merchandise, art and fan clubs available for the superfan. Others feel that he's become something of a joking matter, but the truth remains that he is an Academy Award-winning performer with more than a handful of truly remarkable performances.
10 Lord Of War (2005)
Nicolas Cage pairs with Ethan Hawke, Jared Leto, and director Andrew Niccol for this crime saga in which Cage portrays a firearms dealer from his early days, all the way through his forming of a weapons empire of sorts.
Niccol's tense direction and Cage's layered performance elevate the material into a pointed critique of the illegal weapons underground. The film was released theatrically in the midst of Cage's initial critical downturn with The Wicker Man sealing the coffin a year later. Though his career was shifting downwards, Lord of War proves the man still had incredible dramatic chops.
9 Matchstick Men (2003)
Matchstick Men has all the ingredients for an all-time cult classic, but the stars never quite lined up enough for Ridley Scott's film to achieve the attention it perhaps deserved. Nonetheless, the caper represents of one Cage's best renditions of the intense neurotic criminal archetype that he had toyed with previously.
The film tells the story of a germaphobic robber and his apprentice, played by Sam Rockwell, as they navigate a series of personal obstacles. It was a minor financial success and gained enthused reactions from major critics, but has been largely forgotten in the ensuing decade.
8 Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Cage gained his critical breakthrough with a series of subversive romantic lead performances in some of the late 80's most beloved films. However, one of these brilliant films often gets lost in the mix, that being Francis Ford Coppola's Peggy Sue Got Married.
Part-Back To the Future and part-Purple Rose of Cairo, Coppola's film tells the story of an unhappy woman who travels back to her high school days, an opportunity that grants her the ability to rewrite the mistakes of her life, including her relationship with her boyfriend, played by Cage.
7 Mandy (2018)
In the last decade, Cage took on a lot more work. In fact, he took on so much work that it has become a bit difficult to distinguish a quality project from a throwaway. However, 2018's Mandy is an instant Cage-classic, as well as an immediate entry into the cult-film canon, and it contains some of the most aesthetically interesting horror/sci-fi of the decade.
Cage is given the chance to flex both his serious and over-the-top chops simultaneously, which results in a surprisingly excellent lead performance that lends the film some of its midnight-movie power.
6 Wild At Heart (1990)
Not only is 1990's Wild At Heart the perfect film for anyone curious about the filmography of David Lynch, the film also contains one of the great Nicolas Cage showings. Though the actor would spend much of the decade churning out matinee winners like Face/Off, he began the 90s with an artistic bang, as he paired with the equally eccentric Lynch to bring a uniquely surreal take on the "couple on the run" storyline.
Cage's eccentricities and onscreen charisma show the actor at the peak of his power and he fits in organically within the left-field world that Lynch creates.
5 Raising Arizona (1987)
The Coen Brothers are such great filmmakers that they managed to channel Nicolas Cage at his kookiest into one of the funniest male leading roles captured in their filmmaking career.
Cage takes on the immaculate Coens' penned screenplay and makes the character his own, arguably creating his first truly iconic character in the process. The film, which spins the tale of a couple of lowlife criminals who kidnap a baby and decide to raise it, was a critical and commercial success and remains one of the actor's most famous roles.
4 Bringing Out The Dead (1999)
Cage finally paired up with legendary auteur Martin Scorcese for this nightmarish film about an ambulance paramedic, played by Cage, who begins to lose his grip on reality after his job becomes too much.
The screenplay, penned by acclaimed Scorsese collaborator Paul Schrader, is something to behold, and Cage seems to relish the material as he moves between chewing the scenery and being extremely vulnerable and understated. One of Scorsese's more unsettling and bizarre projects, Bringing Out the Dead closed out Cage's best decade of success.
3 Moonstruck (1987)
Perhaps Cage's critical breakthrough if pinpointed in a single film, Moonstruck was one of 1987's biggest critical darlings. The romantic comedy, starring Cher, was nominated for several Academy Awards, with the singer winning Best Actress, and it established Cage as a viable romantic lead. His antsy and unusual portrayal of the leading male showcased his magnetic screen presence and off-brand quirks.
In the film, the actor plays the younger brother of a man who has abandoned Cher's character and begins a relationship with her throughout the film. Both a delightful romantic comedy and a slice-of-life about a Jewish family in New York, Moonstruck is a bonafide classic.
2 Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Romantic dramas rarely get the chance to be this dark. A plunge into the depths of alcoholism and unconditional love, the film is a tour de force for everyone involved. That being said, it is Nicolas Cage who owns the day with his unrelenting performance as a depressed alcoholic who moves to Las Vegas on a quest to commit suicide by drinking himself to death.
Along the way, he falls in love with a prostitute, played by an excellent Elizabeth Shue. The film won Cage the Best Actor award at the Oscars and marked a critical high point for the actor. Years later, it remains one of the great independent masterpieces of the decade.
1 Adaptation (2002)
Nicolas Cage and Charlie Kaufman are a match made in heaven. Add Spike Jonze into the mix and you get one of the strangest and most genius pieces of metafiction filmmaking the industry has ever seen. With all three artists working at their highest capacity, Adaptation attempts to dissect the process of adapting a book for the screen whilst simultaneously trying to do just that.
It is an incredibly tricky balancing act that pays off in spades, thanks in part to Cage's off-the-wall dual performance in the lead role(s). One of the most cerebral discourses on the writing process ever made, the film also offers up the finest example of why Nicolas Cage is actually a phenomenal actor.
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