10 Actors Who Just Aren't Trying Hard Enough

3.Nicholas Cage

Career High: Adaptation Career Low: Ghost Rider It probably doesn't help Cage that arguably his most loved role was in what is generally accepted to be a bad movie - Con Air. Since then Cage has apparently reveled in that reputation for making trashy movies (which is the only way to explain his association with TWO Ghost Rider movies), brushing his potential under the carpet to release instantly forgettable films like Justice. His high points may be few and far between, but Cage is capable of playing genuinely likable leading men - as he did in The Weather Man - or understated romantic leads - as he did in City of Angels - and he even has it in him to steal the show with extremely impressive performances - like in Adaptation, Kick Ass and some of his early work, including Leaving Las Vegas. But as long as he's continuing the trend of 2011 - in which he made five bad films - he plainly isn't trying his hardest to recapture his best form. It will be a massive shame if his performance in Kick-Ass was nothing but a temporary deviation from type.
 
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