Review of Leaving Las Vegas (1995) by Nick S — 27 Jan 2010

Nearly misses out on four stars because its amazingly unfortunate narrative. That is covered quite well in the above blurb so I will carry with a comment in another direction.

Matt Dillon starred as a much more laid-back version of a very similar character in Factotum: dreary drunk meets life-skills deficit. However in this incarnation Cage is the focus, and this is Cage pre-Con Air. Having come from Rumble Fish and Moonstruck, he would go on to The Rock, Bringing Out The Dead (which LLV was arguably very good practice for), Adaptation, Windtalkers and The Weather Man.

Yes, Cage seems to do very well pulling his role off when he's horribly miserable or dealing with life's circumstance. Cage is dry yet in mourning for a life lived yet still lost; he bemoans his lot yet... Appears powerless to do anything about it. However he approaches this somewhat paradoxical problem with gusto, and the only way to find out the result is To Watch The Film!

Elisabeth Shuh's performance seems to only drive Cage (in LLV) in these respects, but considering her front-of-lens track record (and that even her profile picture here on Flixster almost has her boobs on show) you may jump in to shout "obvious casting". In addition, I'm no expert on Shuh's career but this is definitely her at her most memorable.

Director Mike Figgis had more critically-accepted moments, but this is a "doozy". See it; but not on a bad day.