I had heard that this movie was great and depressing. I mostly just found it to be a disappointment. Cage as an alcoholic intent on drinking himself to death, and Shue as a prostitute intent on whoring--not that we know *why* or anything. The best scenes of the movie are when Cage's character fires quips and witticisms in the midst of his drunkenness. But it's not very depressing, because we just aren't given enough information about the characters to care; Cage is drunk from the start, and never really stops, so it's not like we're witnessing the downfall of some great character. All we know about him is that his wife and son left him somehow, and that Shue has a deranged pimp and keeps on whorin'. That's about it. They proceed to act screwed up and hopeless, as *Sting* sings tepid love songs on the soundtrack (yes, *Sting*). The soundtrack selections are so silly, they really ruin the mood of certain scenes--when we would naturally be feeling glum or sorry for the characters, there's goofy jazzy crooning and crap going on in the forefront of the sound; music that says, "Oh, those crazy kids! What wacky things will they do next!" Does not go well with the visual aspects and storyline at all (unless you consider songs playing that mention "kissing" and "love" as the same stuff happens on the screen to be an amazingly creative example of synchronicity and visual-aural interwinement). Very poor, and downright harmful to the atmosphere. By the time the flick ends, you realize: "hey.....nothing much happened in that movie..." Yes, the acting is pretty damn good from both Cage and Shue, but their characters aren't examined/explored/explained enough for us to get any sort of attachment or lasting interest invested in them, and nothing much happens in terms of plot. Cage keeps getting drunk, Shue keeps whoring, and every now and then something a-little-more-screwed-up-than-screwed-up happens. That's about it. Maybe the best things about this movie could be summarized and translated into a piece of some other excellent film, but in and of itself, this movie is blatantly lacking.
Review of Leaving Las Vegas
