Review of Leaving Las Vegas (1995) by Brendan H — 01 Oct 2008

It's hard to place my feelings about this one accurately. It's good, but not great. Cage plays a despondent man who decides to drink himself to death in Vegas, and Shue plays the chance hooker who happens to love him.

The acting is really pretty good. I don't care for Nic Cage, but he is good enough (not sure about Oscar worthy...). Elisabeth Shue shows flashes of brilliance but goes through stretches of dullness.

I think the thing that kept me from really getting into the movie was how grounded it was in reality. Normally, you'd think that's a good thing, but something about this story makes me long for the abstract.

There's an inherent unrealism (made that word up) to a man who decides to kill himself this way, and I just can't help but feeling there's a lot of potential for metaphor and really great reflection that's lost in the attempt to make these people absolutely realistic.

It's definitely worth a look, but I'd not recommend it for those who have trouble sympathizing with unsavory characters, but I would recommend it for those who think Elisabeth Shue is hot.