At the Movies with Fatwayne

Nicolas Cage, New Orleans – sounds too good to pass up! For Cage’s part, he turns into a pathetic excuse for a police officer who will do anything for his hooker girlfriend, Frankie (Eva Mendes) including satisfying her drug habit as well as his own. In his case, he becomes addicted to drugs as a result of a back injury sustained in the line of duty. He resorts to stealing from both users and dealers as well as his own evidence room. Despite his weakness for drugs, he is an excellent cop who is decorated and promoted due to his hard work and dedication. As Terrence McDonagh (Cage) sinks lower and lower into a drug induced haze, his antics become more and more absurd and, I might add, unlawful. His character is entertaining largely due to Cage’s acting ability, his mumbled dialogue and his “thousand yard stare”. To complicate matters, he becomes indebted to a bookie and riles the mob who are out for blood. How he manages to solve all of these problems and get himself promoted is what makes this film so fun.

As for New Orleans, she does her usual job of providing beautiful and realistic backgrounds for this gritty film. Largely shot in locations that would not be familiar unless you resided in the city, the movie is thankfully bereft of the cliches and bad accents that have marked many of the films that have been shot there.

Val Kilmer was acceptable as Steve Pruit, Terrence’s partner, but don’t expect him to garner any awards for his acting efforts here. Jennifer Coolidge (remember her as Stifler’s mom?) plays Genevieve who is married to Terrence’s father and has one heck of a beer drinking problem! I enjoyed her performance in this flick. Xzibit, as Big Fate, the ruthless drug kingpin interacts very well with Cage’s character and even manages to inflict a bit of humor on us!

In summary, this was a well acted and well told story that is entertaining despite its depressing subject of drug use and murder. Even the alligators and iguanas were memorable!

Quotes are posted at http://www.tvmoviequotes.com/badlieutenantportofcallneworleans.htm

Rated  -  R  -

Fatwayne’s Rating  -    -