Leaving Las Vegas

Cage terminally drunk in Las Vegas with Elisabeth Shue and lots of jazz/blues

An alcoholic in Los Angeles (Nicolas Cage) cashes out of the film industry and moves to Las Vegas to apparently drink himself to death. He meets a prostitute (Elisabeth Shue) with whom he has a welcome affinity and they develop a relationship of radical acceptance.

"Leaving Las Vegas" (1995) is one of those downbeat realistic dramas about lost souls in hopeless dissolution. Its well-done for what it is and Shues beauty is effectively showcased despite the unappealing nature of her profession. And I understand the message of loving acceptance with no questions. Although it could be argued that true love refuses to enable people to destroy themselves and...

A dense film, difficult to see, but one that should be seen, especially by young people who think that getting drunk is relevant to a night of fun.

This film is based on the true story of a man who lost his will to live after a complicated divorce and the end of his personal and professional life as he gave way to alcohol addiction. With no prospects of getting back on top, he decides to go to Las Vegas, the city of all sins in the USA, and drink everything he can until he ends his own life. In the meantime of these suicidal intentions, he meets a prostitute with whom he has a very complicated relationship because, deep down, she too walks her own path of self-destruction.

The film is excellent, but it is deeply heavy, depressing,...

Is there any profession portrayed in cinema more likely to be an obnoxious alcoholic than an Hollywood screen writer? Well that's what "Ben" (Nicolas Cage) is and when he gets fired after one too many absences and foul-mouthed outbursts, he takes his redundancy cheque and his BMW and heads to Vegas. He doesn't have a plan, except perhaps to drink himself into a stupor from which he won't wake up. Meantime, we've met hooker "Sera" (Elisabeth Shue) who has a rather brutal relationship with her flaky pimp "Yuri" (Julian Sands) and works the Strip looking for high rollers to seduce. They meet in a casino and quickly conclude that there might be an element of safety, certainly sanity, in numbers and are soon living together platonically. What no...