The XX Factor: What women really think.



  • « Prev | Main | Next »

    Box-Office Mystery

    Posted Monday, March 23, 2009 3:26 PM | By Willa Paskin
    Sometimes events occur that make me feel as though I live in a nation of strangers. My fellow citizens plunking down $24.8 million to see a Nicolas Cage movie (Def: A crummy action thriller in which the willfully hackish actor sports a thinning helmet of strange hair while simultaneously saving the world and confounding viewers who remember When Peggy Sue Got Married, Leaving Las Vegas, or even The Rock) is such an event. But that's exactly what happened this weekend when Cage's "the time capsule predicts the future!" thriller Knowing took the top spot at the box office, ahead of brotastic bromance I Love You, Man and Julia Robert's Duplicity. (Are we bummed that Newsweek guy turned out to be right or what?)

    This is not the first time an obviously execrable Nicolas Cage movie has opened big (See National Treasure and National Treasure: Book of Secrets), so his success cannot be blamed entirely on the economy, which has been boosting Americans' already endless patience for shlocky films. No, some moviegoers must still really like this guy. I don't get it. He gives me the creeps. Not just minor that-person-keeps-giving-me-weird-looks creeps, but an Oh-lord-I-think-that's-half-a-cockroach-in-my-grilled-cheese creeps. In other words, Mega Creeps.

    Cage, a once-serious, seriously weird, Oscar-winning thespian last gave acting the old college try in 2002's Adaptation and has since made much progress crafting a B-movie résumé Bruce Campbell would be proud of. What happened? His transformation, from caring about what he does to so obviously not caring about what he does, plus additional oddities like the hair and the fact that he named his son Kal El (Superman's birth name), adds up to a persona I find freaky and unsettling even while it's saving the world in escapist action movies. But, hey, $24.8 million don't have these same qualms. Can someone please explain?
Print This ArticlePRINT Discuss in the FrayDISCUSS
<March 2009>
SMTWTFS
22232425262728
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930311234
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES

Syndication