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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | Best Actor OscarÂ(r) winner* Nicolas Cage and Best Actress nominee* Elisabeth Shue set the screen ablaze in this profoundly moving love story. Nominated* for two additional Academy AwardsÂ(r)Director and Adapted Screenplaythis emotionally charged powerhouse of a film graced over 100 10 Best Lists including Roger Ebert's #1 Movie of the Year. Ben Sanderson (Cage) is a career alcoholic who has hit rock bottom. Trashing all personal and professional ties to his L.A. existence, he sets off for the lights of Vegas on a mission: to drink himself to death. There he meets Sera (Shue), a beautiful, seen-it-all hooker. From the moment Ben and Sera connect, they form a unique bond based upon unconditional acceptance and mutual respect that will change each of themforever. In the words of David Thompson of Los Angeles Magazine, Leaving Las Vegas is a masterpiece. *1995 | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Actors: | Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Shashi Bhatia, Kim Adams, Valeria Golino | | Format: | Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language: | English | | Subtitle: | English, Spanish, French | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Studio: | MGM (Video & DVD) | | Run Time: | 111 minutes | | DVD Release Date: | January 01, 2000 | | Average Customer Rating: | based on 168 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Isn't that what they do? Jul 12, 2010 Leaving Las Vegas is a hard core hark back to the old Film Noir genre. Set to deal with the dark & seamy side of living it does just that & adds terrific performances by Elizabeth Shue & Nicholas Cage.
Cage plays a movie exec that has reached his limit as a hard drinking alcoholic. Here's a question, who manipulates people more the movie exec or the alcoholic? Maybe the one is training for the other.
Shue plays a been everywhere done everything whore who wakes up & realizes she's alone not just at night but every minute of everyday. This is where I part from the normal story synopsis which claims they fall in love. Yeah right. This is two people totally absorbed in themselves who have unique & hard to fill needs in their lives. Cage wants someone to hold his hand while he drinks himself to death without nagging him about it. Shue wants something to come home to besides mouth wash for her paste filled teeth. Although she can easily swing both ways her preference turns out to be hetero. I'm sure lots of men have fantasized about living & loving with a whore. I'm just as certain men almost all know it won't work like you think. Shue needs a guy with an askew view.
Enter the above two, into each others lives. Now our whore who has capably manipulated men into giving her what she wants for years stumbles on? no finds, the biggest loser she can have contact with & surprise? no entices, him with what he is so desperatly looking for, a hand & body to hold while dying. Cage on the other hand wants to find a girl to ease his passing & looks in the Las Vegas Sunday School Social Register? no checks out, the whores available. He gives chase to the one that responds in the most positive manner.
The only love here is self love. The only reason this works is because it is obvious that we're looking at a short term relationship. In the end Cage is dead, as he wanted to be. Shue is still alive & has had this marvellous experience of not coming home to just mouth wash. That means Shue used Cage to combat her terrible lonliness, without the long term commitment she did not have any use or desire for. Whereas Cage used Shue to keep himself from falling totally into self-loathing since he had this one human who would hold his hand till death. They both attain what they want by their own devices.
The truly stellar performances turned in by Cage & Shue are what makes this story go even more than the story which is top-notch itself. The movie could of so easily turned into just a vile look at what humanity is capable of but the performances keep it alive & moving.
So often we forget the failures & half truths we have in our own lives & if you're one of those moviegoers that only go to the show to be uplifted & refreshed you should avoid this at all costs.
I give Cage's portrayal as an end of the road alcoholic 5 stars.
Shue gets 6 stars as the whore. I sometimes feel that people think anyone could play a convincing whore. I don't think that. 6 stars.
NOW for contentions, which are small. I was actually PO'ed that they used the buggs bunny roadrunner type of highway travel when Cage went to Vegas. It did not belong anywhere in this movie! I would of preferred to have fewer close-ups on human heads that left no sense of framing to the shot. This is a completely amateur mistake in photography or filming. It was used far, far too much.
If you like old film noir: SEE THIS ONE
Story, writing & acting 5 stars.
Directing & filming minus 1/2 star. OVERALL RATING 4.5 Stars
romantic but sad Jul 07, 2010 I give this movie 5 stars. Becuase, I felt it had a lot of romance to it. Also, it was more realistic than your typical romance love story. Nicolas Cage plays an alcoholic living in Las Vegas. Whom meets a pretty prostitute they fall in love for a short period of time. They realize they have faults, but they don't judge one another. They help one another when one is down on their luck. The ending is sad. However, no other movie is like this very different.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
worst nickolas cage movie ever..... May 01, 2010 i love watching cage perform,but why he took the role in this film i'll never understand.this is an all around depressing-what the hell movie.hated it!glad i didnt buy it,but truthfully....found it on the sidewalk.guess someone else found it useless as well.......crappola plus,thats why it got one star.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Seriously? Apr 22, 2010 This movie is terrible. Its only redeeming quality is the committed (and Oscar-winning) performance of Nicolas Cage. The fact that Elisabeth Shue was nominated for an Oscar for her performance is a crime. She's awful. She has two facial expressions. She isn't even able to muster up one tear. It's a horrible, horrible, horrible performance.
The movie has no plot. Everything about it is gratuitous. The cinema verite feel that writer/director Mike Figgis went for is a joke; the movie isn't even vaguely realistic. There's almost zero backstory, and the characters are completely one-dimensional. It's impossible to relate to these characters. In what universe does this film take place?
The screenplay is chock-full of cheesy lines. Avoid at all costs. Two stars for Cage; zero for everyone else.
Not for repeated viewing Jan 24, 2010 A love story of a different - and rather disturbing - kind. Tormented alcoholic Ben (Nicholas Cage) leaves his home and family to drink himself to death in Las Vegas. Soon after arriving he meets up with a battered prostitute (Elizabeth Shue) and quickly strikes up a friendship with her. The movie chronicles their relationship to the tragic end you know is coming, yet it never feels predictable. Yes, it's a depressing film, but you get caught up in the extremely compelling downward spiral, and the acting is top notch. Certainly not family entertainment. I wouldn't let any kid under 20 watch it, especially the uncut version, which I happened on for the first time on the IFC channel the other day. Powerful stuff though.
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