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Leaving Las Vegas
MGM / UA


6.9

based on 23 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 18 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for strong sexuality and language, violence and pervasive alcohol abuse

Starring Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis, and Steven Weber

After being fired, an alcoholic screenwriter (Cage) takes his final paycheck to Las Vegas where he plans to drink himself to death. He comes in contact with a prostitute (Shue) who needs to be needed.

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	John O'Brien (novel) Mike Figgis
DIRECTED BY:	Mike Figgis
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 24, 1998 Video: February 24, 1998 Theatrical: October 27, 1995
RUNNING TIME:	111 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Cage and Shue make these cliches into unforgettable people.

100

Variety Leonard Klady

The film pulls no punches, takes no prisoners and flies in the face of feel-good pictures.

100

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

At best, Leaving Las Vegas is pure alchemy -- it makes of flawed humanity a hymn, and of forlorn hope a beacon.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Dark and giddy at the same time, Leaving Las Vegas takes us into dreamy, intoxicated places that no movie about an alcoholic has gone before.

Film.com Robert Horton

Furiously uncompromising, and therefore absolutely alive.

Newsweek David Ansen

Anyone who cares about ravishing filmmaking, superb acting and movies willing to dive into the mystery of unconditional love will leave this dark romance both shaken and invigorated.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Mr. Cage digs deep to find his character's inner demons while also capturing the riotous energy of his outward charm. [27 October 1995, p. C3]

Film.com Keith Simanton

Stands on its grim integrity and the astonishing performances of the leads.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A uniquely hypnotic and haunting love story sparked by Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue at their career best.

Film.com Sean Means

Cage again proves himself the most fearless actor now working in movies.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Draws its audience along a rarely-traveled path whose scope can only be fully appreciated in the silence of the aftermath.

Mr. Showbiz Anne Harris

Leaving Las Vegas may not be a top choice for an upbeat outing, but there's something oddly poetic about the simplicity of Ben's mission and Sera's acceptance of it.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

I don't see how you can get away from calling Cage’s performance a great one. [10 November 1995, Friday, p.C]

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Doesn't go down smooth, but it doesn't promise to.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

What keeps the film (adapted from the late John O'Brien's harrowing semi-autobiographical book) from being completely unbearable are the extraordinary performances.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

An amazing, bracing, funny, audacious, tender, and sobering piece of filmmaking. Few movies have ever dared to be this remorseless in their portraits of addiction.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Cage's great performance is matched by Shue, who becomes the focus by the middle of the picture.

USA Today Mike Clark

Deliberately downbeat, it's best as a two-person character study, stumbling a bit whenever it extends its parameters.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Beautifully put together, sensitively acted by Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue, directed by Mike Figgis with assurance and style and making exceptional use of its musical score, this doomed romance is finally not as satisfying as all of that would have you believe.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Needless to say, the plot goes nowhere, but under the pornographic circumstances Figgis, Cage, and Shue all do fine jobs.

San Francisco Examiner G. Allen Johnson

Nicolas Cage gives one of the best performances of his strange, courageous career.

TV Guide Harlan Jacobson

Leaving Las Vegas is special. A courageous plane wreck of character study.

Time Richard Schickel

A movie that may be just a bit too pleased with its own artful bleakness.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Job A. gave it a10:
I've seen this movie probably 30 times.The acting by cage is really unbelievable.Who ever doesn't like this movie never really paid attention to the amazing story and acting.A work of art.

Tracy R gave it a10:
An uncompromising, unsentimental poem. Perfectly done for what it is.

Captain Craig gave it a0:
Depressing, miserable production about two people to enable their adictions. No redeaming value whatsoever. Im boycotting Nick Nolte films in revenge for making me suffer thru this.

Trent m. gave it a 10:
Awesome!!!

Andrew M. gave it a 5:
This film is both good and bad. It wants to show how a man can descend into the purgatory existence of alcoholism. How relationships are strained, tortured and destroyed by such an existence. How realism becomes shadowed and warped by this lifestyle. And how the world itself reacts to such a degraded life. In these veins, the movie is good and it succeeds. The question is: moralising aside, who wants to watch this?...who wants to be willingly dragged down into this hell?...I didn't, but I was. The film didn't make me care; it was too ugly, too dark, too cold. In this way, it was bad. Some will say, so, that is how it is, that is reality! Well, I think you can paint reality in several different ways, all to get the same points across each time. I took several things out of this film...beneficial, enlightening things!...but I believe if the film had been made better, brighter, it might have made me actually care about these things.

Pat C. gave it a 10:
There is no better example of the interaction of two proficient actors at the top of their game. Vegas is the repository of the American dream, and these characters, in their efforts to dignify their situations, don't let us forget that that dream comes with a price. As close to truth as Hollywood nowadays allows itself to get.

Buttered Popcorn gave it a 4:
Compelling to watch as we witness this downward spiral, but that's about as far as it goes. Left wishing the movie had a little more to offer.

Leaving Las Vegas MGM / UA

Leaving Las Vegas
MGM / UA