Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans

IMDB Synopsis

Terence McDonagh is a drug- and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants.

IMDB Rating: 6.6/10

Our Rating: 7.8/10

Our Reviews:

We’ve seen Nic Cage play (or, potentially, actually be) coked out of his mind in films like Vampire’s Kiss and Deadfall. In Bad Lieutenant, we get to watch him unravel as his “maintenance cocaine” habit, as Molly dubbed it, escalates into a pinnacle in which Nic smokes crack in front of rapper Xzibit (who plays a drug dealer) and starts laughing maniacally at some nonsensical anecdote before all hell breaks loose. There’s some kind of plot line here in which he’s supposed to be solving a murder while trying to deal with gambling debts and run-ins with the mafia, but I was more transfixed/horrified by: 1. Nic Cage randomly picking up a slurred, quasi-New York accent ¾ of the way through the movie before abandoning it entirely, which is never explained, 2. Baffling moments in which the movie’s perspective switches to what I can only describe as “lizard cam” and 3. A scene in which Nic Cage tries to shake down a couple in a parking lot for their drugs that ends with a sex scene where he engages in viscerally gross dirty talk and, I think, actually nuts in his pants for real. Bonus points for the incomprehensibly star-studded cast, which includes Nic reuniting with Ghost Rider love interest Eva Mendes (who plays a drug-addled prostitute) and Val Kilmer, Michael Shannon and Jennifer Coolidge (aka Stiffler’s mom) in bit parts.

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A bizarrely star-studded cast for such a forgettable movie. I'm discovering that I might have selective amnesia for movies where Nic Cage plays some sort of asshole law enforcement character. If there is any justice in this world the lizard was nominated for at least two Oscars

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C'est magnifique! This is Cage at his absolutely sleaziest as a corrupt cop doing corrupt shit in both Louisiana and Mississippi, which we know are not jurisdictions that are traditionally paragons of upstanding morality. As a result, we get to watch him be high 24/7, tamper with crime scenes, shake down club goers, punch way out of his weight class with Eva Mendes reprising her role as one of Gator's hoes, and say what we've all wanted to say at CVS while waiting too long for a prescription.

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Nic Cage is a corrupt cop who gets involved with drugs in an attempt to score big. Comeuppance? Character arc? Repercussions for your actions? Nobody wants to see that. Just give Nic Cage a lot of cocaine and film it.

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As an artistic answer to his previous film, "Cave of Forgotten Dreams," Werner Herzog brings us this Nic Cage gem to ask the question, 'Do you like coffee in your cocaine?' Well, Cage's character certainly does. This movie has it all: cocaine, coffee, cinematic lizard breaks... uh, prostitution... crack cocaine. Yep, Werner Herzog asked Hollywood for it all, and got it!