Leaving Las Vegas

Here is another great little "feel good" film for the weekend, so much so in fact the poor guy who wrote the novel it was based on killed himself two weeks into shooting! Not that I begrudge Nicolas Cage anything but I still have no idea why he garnered an Oscar for his work here as I tend to feel he didn't really pull off the chronic alcoholic part at all. Elisabeth Shue on the other hand, who was nominated but didn't win, was utterly perfect in her part as the prostitute with a heart of gold and if you watch carefully you will see this is HER story and not Cage's at all. I will give him credit for the scene when he suffers the DT's after the casino incident and subsequent black out but truth be told as dark as many felt this film to be it came NOWHERE even close to the reality of the alcoholics life. All of that said, I will not dispute the fact it is a good piece of film making and Mike Figgis has much to be proud of with this one. Look for some great cameos throughout from the likes of Carey Lowell, Valeria Golino and CSI: Miami's Emily Procter in her big screen debut. I will also say it was a nice touch having Richard Lewis in a scene at the start and if one wanted something more authentic they would do well to hunt down his DRUNKS.