Do you know what I can’t stand? When people say that “Nicolas Cage can’t act,” because holy jeez. The man can act. (Have you seen Pig?) I mean, just because somebody picks roles that we don’t understand the appeal of, that doesn’t mean that they can’t act. It just means that maybe they should be a bit more selective when choosing roles.
And yeah, I’ll give you that. Because Nic Cage has kind of almost become his own genre. That said, that shouldn’t make you think that he’s a bad actor, because he even WON a Best Actor trophy for his performance in 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas, which I feel is something that I have to constantly remind people about.
The story of a self-destructive alcoholic, Cage knocked this role out of the park, and it’s proof positive that he can do pretty much anything. Let’s talk.
For One Thing, This Is Arguably The Best Acting Nicolas Cage Has Ever Done On Screen
Now look, I get it. When most people think of Cage, they probably envision movies like The Rock, Face/Off, and Con Air, and yeah, I love those movies, too. They might also think of all of the times that Nic Cage’s characters went bananas, like when he was screaming about bees, or emphatically reciting the alphabet. However, you have to remember that he’s done A LOT of movies (maybe too many), and in the over 100 films he’s made, there are some rather, er, silly performances, with some meaty ones as well, and his role in Leaving Las Vegas is definitely the latter.
Based on the 1990 novel of the same name by John O’Brien (more on him later), the film sees Cage’s character at rock bottom. He’s a screenwriter, but he’s lost his job as well as his family (lost, as in, his wife left him and took the kid). So, with everything stripped away from him, he’s going to travel to Las Vegas and drink himself to death. That’s his plan anyway, until he almost hits a sex worker (Elisabeth Shue) with his car, and they actually form a bond.
This is where the film turns tragic, as Cage’s character, Ben, isn’t looking for a cheap thrill. He’s just looking for somebody to talk to, and he performs this so well. He’s doing his trademark laugh, but it’s also laden with misery. At one point, he has the shakes so bad that he can barely walk, and you just watch his decline, as you know there’s not going to be a happy ending.
It’s a performance that actually makes you appreciate his more “ludicrous” performances, because you can clearly see that he CHOOSES to act that way. If he wanted to, he could possibly pull a Daniel Day-Lewis and act his heart out. He definitely has it in him.
The Story Is All The More Depressing When You Learn That It’s Semi-Autobiographical
I hinted earlier that this movie was based on a novel, but what I didn’t mention was that the novel was semi-autobiographical, as its author, John O’Brien, was also deeply depressed, much like Cage’s character in this film. In fact, O’Brien actually took his own life only months after the film rights were sold for this book. So, even though we didn’t include Leaving Las Vegas in our list regarding movies about depression, it certainly fits the bill.
O’Brien, you see, was also an alcoholic, so the subject matter of this story certainly came from a personal place. Cage truly tapped into that vein. Throughout the picture, we see his decline into alcoholism. At times, he looks like he’s having a blast, stumbling all over the place. But, at other times, you can see the toll that it’s taking on him, as well as Shue’s character, who’s staying with, and who I’ll get into soon. What’s hard to stomach is that the writer himself was in so much pain that he created a character who you want to see get better, but you know he won’t.
This is a role that comfortably sits outside of the parameters of a “silly” Nic Cage performance. This isn’t a meme-worthy Cage. No. Instead, he’s portraying a man who had nothing else to lose, so he was going to kill himself on his own terms.
It’s a terribly distressing, and depressing movie, but Cage nails it completely. That said, he’s not alone…
Elisabeth Shue Is Also A Standout As A Loving Sex Worker
There are a lot of movies out there with kind-hearted sex workers. It’s even become a bit of a trope, which we see in films like Trading Places, and Pretty Woman. So, yes, we’re familiar with watching them get men out of their slumps, and even fall in love (for a more recent, cynical version of this trope, we got last year’s Best Picture winner, Anora, which left some of us feeling “lukewarm”).
That said, Leaving Las Vegas doesn’t feel trope-y at all, and I think it all goes to Elisabeth Shue’s performance, because you get a sense that she’s just as lost as Cage’s character. Except unlike Cage, who is spiraling out of control right before our eyes, Shue’s character, Sera, has been living on the fringes for a long time, and she seems to have found something comforting in Ben, even though he’s a complete mess.
It might be because Ben NEEDS Sera, even though he feels alcohol is the solution. He’s falling apart at the seams, but Sera is, too, and has been for a long time. Shue makes it seem like Sera has something missing in her life, and that “thing” isn’t a man, but rather, it’s the sense of being needed for something other than sex. She takes Ben into her life, but only under one condition from Ben – she doesn’t ask him to stop drinking, and he won’t say anything negative about her line of work.
This is fine for a little while, but Sera sees that Ben needs the kind of help that she just can’t provide, which breaks her heart, as well as the viewer’s. Like everything else in this movie, her acting is high art, and she rises above the tropes, creating a character of her own.
It’s Honestly One Of The Best Films Of The ’90s And Worthy Of A Watch
Though it wasn’t included on our list of the 100 best movies of the 1990s, believe me when I say this, but Leaving Las Vegas is definitely one of the best movies of that era. One reason why is because it’s totally devoid of all hope. That might not sound like a good thing, but it is, because it makes you better appreciate life when you see a man totally free fall into his worst vices.
The film works because the acting allows it to do so. Sure, there have been movies like The Lost Weekend where we see the toll that alcoholism can take on a person, but unlike that movie, which ends on a rosier note, we learn that this isn’t a cautionary tale. Instead, it’s a story about a man who doesn’t see the point in living anymore, and nothing will make him see otherwise, which is as dour as you can possibly get.
To my earlier point, it all hinges on Shue and Cage’s acting, and they are both superb. So, whenever you say, “Nicolas Cage can’t act,” please remember that he certainly can act, and Leaving Las Vegas is proof of that.