I haven't watched this but was talking to a lady that would probably qualify for the general public's reaction: She was genuinely annoyed to have watched it, though Nic Cage's presence would mean it was a decent film and was largely confused by the film. I'm not hurrying to check how accurate her review was.
"Look at my car. Do you think that was bought with the earnest love of geeks?" - HaemishM
Considering that it scored something like a 4% on rotten tomatoes, I think it is safe to say that even without Cage and his terrible actorness it would have been a bad movie.