Leaving Las Vegas is a very dark 1995 drama starring Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue. It tells the story of an alcoholic named Ben, played by Nicholas Cage, who has managed to throw his entire life away. He uses his severance check after getting fired to go to Vegas and drink himself to death. There he finds a hooker named Sera, played by Elisabeth Shue, who is in an abusive relationship with her pimp, and basically jumps from one bad situation to another. They end up falling in love while he is slowly dying. There is also an excellent supporting cast with recognizable actors and actresses, although none of the supporting cast members have extensive roles. The largest is probably Laurie Metcalf, who plays the landlord of Elisabeth Shue's character. The supporting cast also includes Julian Sands, Richard Lewis, and Emily Proctor.
The Blu-Ray release is fairly bare-bones. The HD transfer is okay but not excellent, and there are really no bonus materials. The theatrical trailer. So, if you only get physical discs when there are a lot of extras, then you may just want to stream this. The story is very dark and unhappy, but Cage and Shue's acting is excellent. Cage's overacting is kept to a minimum and actually works in this movie when he does it. Given that he plays a character who does not care about his life anymore, it is not as ridiculous as in other movies. The movie has some violence, sexual content, and nudity and obviously deals with the subject of substance abuse, so it earns its R-rating. It is definitely worth checking out if you are in the mood for a darker, gritty drama.
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