Joy Behar Dishes on Her 1 Issue with Nicolas Cage’s Moonstruck Role

While Nicolas Cage has been lauded for his role in the 1987 film Moonstruck, there are some critics of the actor’s performance – including View co-host Joy Behar.

On the Thursday, July 17 broadcast of The View, the co-hosts were discussing Cage’s recent admission that he once dated Sarah Jessica Parker — but didn’t hear from her after she met his parents.

“What didn’t they like about him? Besides his performance in Moonstruck?” Behar asked, at which point Whoopi Goldberg offered, “I thought his performance in Moonstruck was great.”

Behar replied, saying, “I’m not saying it wasn’t, but that could’ve been something that irritated them.”

Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin then interjected to ask: “Now we’re just dragging Nicolas Cage?”

“Well, I’m Italian,” Behar — who is Italian-American — said, adding: “I never thought that movie represented Italians that well.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.

Cher won a Best Actress Oscar for the film, in which she and the late  Danny Aiello played newly engaged couple Loretta Castorini and Johnny Cammareri. When Johnny leaves for Italy to visit his dying mother, he asks Loretta to visit his hot-tempered and estranged brother, Ronny (played by Cage), to tell them of their engagement. When she does, Loretta finds herself falling for Ronny, instead.

The discussion about the film on The View came after Cage, 61, recently admitted that he likely bombed his first impression when he met the Sex and the City star’s mother in the late ‘90s, in a statement to E! News on Monday, July 14.

“I cared about Sarah, but I don’t think I passed the mom test,” Cage told the outlet. “I recall sitting down with her and her mother for dinner at the Russian Tea Room, and I don’t know if it was my blue Vanson Leather motorcycle jacket (which I still have) or my sinusitis, but I didn’t hear from her again.” 

Cage’s comments came after Parker, 60, revealed on the Sunday, July 13, episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that she and the National Treasure movie star dated around the time of their 1992 romantic comedy Honeymoon in Vegas.

“Did you date Nic Cage?” Cohen, 57, asked his guest point-blank. 

“Um, yes, I did,” she answered. “Yes, I did.”