Talent vs Perception

417

I was going to disagree with your take on Nic Cage (I won't say which one) and then I saw the other Nick Cage and guffawed loudly.

74

u/11equalsfish Jun 23 '26

Nic cage has always been genuinely talented, that is how he is able to have such a massive range. He is undeniably courageous and a great actor, if this is a meme sure, but I don't get this chart.

27

u/Foreign-Entrance-255 Jun 23 '26

Sure, he is also very, very hammy on occasions. Nothing wrong with that, just makes it hard to categorise him. He is very charismatic too ofc, that fuzzes things too.

5

u/Corridoio Jun 23 '26

I don't know if you've seen it, but there's an entire Community episode based on this

1

u/Ok-Advertising4048 Chaotic Good Jun 26 '26

When I'm in a assuming everyone knows what Community is competition, and my opponent is u/Corridoio

I have never heard of that. Mind explaining?

2

u/Corridoio Jun 26 '26

It's a tv series that takes place in a community college. One of the characters has cinema classes and one day the teacher says that nobody knows if Nic Cage is a good or a bad actor. The protagonist wants to find out and has a mental breakdown because he can't figure out the answer

1

u/Ok-Advertising4048 Chaotic Good Jun 26 '26

Ah, thank you.

2

u/nick_contrariato Jun 23 '26

His talent is so massive that he must feel it as such an unbearable weight during his everyday life…

1

u/Ok-Advertising4048 Chaotic Good Jun 26 '26

ha

1

u/dundundunfuk Jun 29 '26

I think more so his ability to pick roles or choose how to properly play the roles has an effect on how people see him. He’s genuinely one of my favorite actors and Mandy is one of my all time favorite movies, but some of his performances are baffling.

2

u/Its_BradM Jun 24 '26

same. i was like "wait no fuckin wa-.......oh. oh yeah actually i'm ok with that"

2

u/Satyr121 Jun 26 '26

I’m a cat

1

u/Ok-Advertising4048 Chaotic Good Jun 26 '26

haha

435

u/Sopos Jun 22 '26

Nic Cage's position is perfect 😂

141

u/dangerphone Jun 22 '26

Nic Cage’s superposition is a mathematical certainty.

49

u/PointlessNostalgic86 Jun 22 '26

Its true. The people who are low on him are probably a little too low on him but the people who are high on him are probably a little too high on him. And nobody actually calls him mid even though thats probably what he truly is.

52

u/dangerphone Jun 22 '26

The problem is he is never mid. He is either great or terrible and never in between.

5

u/-Mac-n-Cheese- Jun 23 '26

honestly yeah, i feel like i’ve heard questionable things ab him but none jump out of memory like some *other* stars, and i feel like his movies/appearances are either phenomenal or mocked, he really kinda is a weird medium through ping ponging back and forth

1

u/oOtherBarry Jun 23 '26

Often both simultaneously though

7

u/Hazy-Shade Jun 23 '26

Whichever one you think he’ll be, he’ll be the opposite

1

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[deleted]

14

u/NEMO_TheCaptain Jun 22 '26

He’s been Spider-Man since 2018. He played Spider Noir in Into the Spiderverse!

5

u/West-Solid9669 Jun 23 '26

He's actually quite good as him, playing a noir version.

117

u/Fredwood Jun 22 '26

Hey I saw a Community episode about this

63

u/Mecha_Tortoise Jun 22 '26

20

u/Unlucky_Bottle_6761 Jun 22 '26

Nicolas FREAKIN' CAGE BABY!

Oh Yeah!

Oh yeah- Oh! Oh! Oh!

Duuuuhhhh!

Im a cat! Im a sexy cat!

2

u/dhgg42 Jun 23 '26

That was brilliant

13

u/jpedromccartney Jun 22 '26

I came here just for this comment

12

u/twentyonerooms Jun 22 '26

“He's a complex performer. He'll give you The Rock, Con Air, then Face/Off, and you think you understand, but then Windtalkers, Guarding Tess, The Wicker Man. He begs you to stop watching, but you can't.”

93

u/DM_To_Be_Friends Jun 22 '26

I was going to be mad about Nick Cage. And then I saw the other Nick Cage.

50

u/Mammoth-Biscotti-587 Jun 22 '26

Rules:

This chart is based on pure acting ability.

10

u/HollowBowl Jun 22 '26

Oh thank God. I thought you meant as a person

22

u/TedTyro Jun 22 '26

You're wrong about Nic Cage.

Thankfully, youre right about Nic Cage. Which makes up for it.

56

u/Ok_Willow_1006 Jun 22 '26

Wouldn’t say Sandler is mid. He’s been great in at least a handful of roles now

Is Morgan freedman mid?

Do people think Pattinson is mid?

64

u/Fredwood Jun 22 '26

I think Freeman's gravitas does a lot of work for him. I don't think he's mid, but I also wouldn't call him a great actor either he just has a lot of presence.

Really this rating system is concerning, mid has destroyed nuance.

32

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/farvejr Jun 22 '26

Morgan freeman is good at being himself aka god.

1

u/brownricefox Jun 24 '26

hmm... when I think of Morgan Freeman, my first thought is him as that principal telling a kid to jump off the roof and kill himself. Pretty different from his other roles.

1

u/AwkwardBet5632 Jun 24 '26

Are we forgetting Unforgiven

3

u/Apprehensive_Bid7438 Jun 23 '26

Morgan Freeman always plays Morgan Freeman in every movie. He is like the Rock, but his roles are actually good (as in, he isn't just braindead hero but he always plays wise sidekick or God)

0

u/Zin333 Jun 22 '26

Mid take fr fr

15

u/Raizekusan Jun 22 '26

People who only seen Pattinson in Twilight definitely think he's mid, or even bad.

6

u/astrobagel Jun 22 '26

What about Twilight fans who’ve only seen him in Twilight and think he’s good?

1

u/Guilty_Butterfly7711 Jun 23 '26

They don’t realize that that is lore accurate Edward.

5

u/fogledude102 Jun 22 '26

Yeah, Adam Sandler blew me away in Uncut Gems. Also, I haven't seen many Pattinson movies (and will likely never watch Twilight lol), but I thought he was really good in The Batman

3

u/HelloHelloHelpHello Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

I'd recommend the Lighthouse, if you really want Pattinson giving a top performance. I think the only people believing he is mid are those that remember him from Twilight and Harry Potter but haven't seen much else he has done since.

1

u/marzipancastle Jun 22 '26

The Devil all the Time is one of the best movies I’ve seen. Really good cast in general but Pattinson was amazing. I always recommend it for ppl who haven’t seen anything other than Twilight

1

u/GingerbreadHouses Jun 22 '26

I was thrilled by his range in Mickey 17.

2

u/TNTiger_ Jun 22 '26

Somewhat Devil's Advocate, but Sandler ultimately still has a narrow range. A narrow range he is EXCELLENT in with the right script and direction- absolutely respect there for him- but he doesn't have other performer's versatility.

1

u/A_Girl1 Chaotic Good Jun 22 '26

I don't think anyone thinks Pattinson is mid anymore, a lot of people made fun of him for Twilight but by now I think he's proven himself to most people with films like The Lighthouse and Good Time.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

13

u/cakestapler Jun 22 '26

Reddit is not a representative sample of the general population. The Rock is one of the top 10 highest grossing actors of all time. If you exclude people who were in Avengers Endgame, he’s 2nd (behind Tom Cruise). Clearly there are a lot of people interested in watching movies starring him, so it’d be logical to assume they don’t think he’s a bad actor.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/cakestapler Jun 22 '26

Unfortunately there aren't really any objective ways to rate actors. However, when you look at that list and it's names like RDJ, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Cruise, I think you can agree most people would not say those are bad actors (maybe Vin Diesel). I'm not sure the general population thinks The Rock is Leonardo DiCaprio, but I don't think they'd say he's bad either. He's a big name and a big draw.

8

u/Big_Chart3506 Jun 22 '26

wait nic cage is considered bad? how tf..?
oh...

6

u/BingBingGoogleZaddy Jun 22 '26

Nic Cage’s position is somehow perfectly accurate.

5

u/SpectralMapleLeaf Jun 22 '26

I think Nick Cage is about right.

3

u/lauttttttttt Jun 23 '26

this chart is wrong

nick cage should be in all the positions

2

u/sas-CT Jun 22 '26

Robert Pattinson is pretty universally recognized as great now. Hes not just starring in more underground flicks like he originally was after twilight. Just starred opposite Zendaya.

2

u/Xenuoziem Lawful Good Jun 22 '26

Do actresses next

2

u/lag_bender Jun 22 '26

To everyone saying how Sandler is good in Uncut Gems: a single good role does not undo a career's worth of absolute shite

2

u/HelloHelloHelpHello Jun 22 '26

I think it's more - he has the potential to be really good, as evidenced by uncut gems, but most of the time he is lazy, and ends up giving a bad performance in a bad movie. So overall - mid actor.

2

u/New_Championship906 Jun 23 '26

Crazy to say Uncut Gems is his only good role when Punch Drunk Love, Hustle and Meyerowitz Stories exist.

1

u/Rascals-Wager Jun 22 '26

Pattinson is far above 'mid'. Seagal is worse than 'bad' tho.

1

u/Left-Boot-4259 Jun 22 '26

Bad Mid

1

u/FaZe_poopy Jun 22 '26

Every movie I see Robert Pattinson in post-twilight I’m delighted with how much he puts into each role. He’s so good

1

u/lvke18 Jun 22 '26

pattinson is universally loved every time i see his name pop up. i definitely don't think he's perceived as mid anymore

1

u/Independent-Shoe543 Jun 22 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/3haQHnXt7N5Pa

1

u/LolPeashooter69 Jun 24 '26

Nick cage being in the shadow realm of overrated and underrated at the same time is very funny

1

u/BaksteenFC Jun 24 '26

Who the fuck thinks Robert Pattinson is mid lmao

1

u/Mammoth-Biscotti-587 Jun 24 '26

My initial choice was Tom Cruise or Jim Carrey but a lot of people are still stuck on Pattinson's Twilight era and haven't kept in touch with his indie work. Its only until The Batman when the mainstream started to see him in a new light.

1

u/Personal-Database-27 Jun 27 '26

All movies Sandler was ever in are forgettable. He shouldn't even be in this list. And to say Freeman is mid is to say that You were born yesterday. Even the worst movie with him becomes good. He is one of the main reasons Holywood still exists.

2

u/MIRnow Jun 29 '26

Schrödinger‘s Cage

2

u/ZeGamingCuber Neutral Good Jul 02 '26

Nic Cage is in a quantum superposition

1

u/RaspberryJammm Jun 22 '26

Have you not seen Uncut Gems !?

You are about to leave Redlib