A beautiful portrait of two characters falling apart thats never depressing or boring, but lovely and tender. For every great Nicholas Cage performance, he does 3 really terrible ones, but when he's on top form, as he is here, he really is a brilliant actor.

>Nicolas Cage researched his character by binge drinking, and would film himself drunk to study his speech patterns.

One of the great pains in my life is that i will never see this footage.

I didn't take as much away from this film as I'd have liked, it's a solid broken love story with a fantastic portrayal of alcoholism spear-headed by fantastic performances by the lead actors. I don't pay any credence to those who tell me ''Nick Cage? Good actor? Let me laugh even harder!'' because to me, he's always been great, even when his roles get utterly ridiculous; they're hilarious.

I'm like a prickly pear... I'm a prickly pear!

At the centre of Mike Figgis’ beautifully constructed and emotionally draining film is a frighteningly unrestrained performance from Nicolas Cage as the alcoholic screenwriter Ben Sanderson, who having fled to Vegas intends to drink himself to death. Elisabeth Shue’s support as high-class call girl is as sensitive as it is bewildering; while her intent to save Ben is touching, the immense danger of her job and sadistic connection to her pimp remains a lingering threat. Leaving Las Vegas tackles acceptance, resignation and despair as the two characters plummet into self destruction.

Wow. Even better than I remember. And Sting!

While this movie has flashes of brilliance (Nicholas Cage's entire performance, certain scenes primarily in the third act), the story dragged on a bit for me in the middle. I found myself not caring much overall about the relationship of the main characters. Elizabeth Shue is also very solid. Also, while I understood the somber tone the score was trying to set, it just didn't really work for me - maybe I was just in the mood for a more uplifting movie. Unfortunately, don't see myself watching this one again in the future, but could be worth a watch for the performances alone.

Leaving Las Vegas is an incredibly depressing tale of a deeply flawed couple that just happen to bump into each other and start a relationship right from the get-go, especially as it starts to reach it's obvious and inevitable conclusion. But it's also a very moving one, being one of few films that honestly depicts the devastating impact of alcoholism, and is boosted greatly by strong performances throughout as well as vague explanations as to how these characters exactly got to the situations they found themselves in, letting you focus even more on the problems of dependence in and of itself.

I'm not sure why this was on my watchlist. I'm currently 30 minutes in and I'm not sure I want to keep watching it. it feels like a first time movie made in the 90s. I think that's what it is. Nic Cage is GROSS.

I decided I have seen enough.

PS there was a lot of "arriving" and "going to" las vegas, which is the opposite of the title. misleading.

I Like 1995's Leaving Las Vegas, I Like It Because I Like Nicolas Cage.

A relentlessly depressing pity party with two strong performances from Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue.

I watched about 20 minutes of this before shutting it off. Not even remotely interested in seeing the rest of it, as the first 20 minutes bored me to tears.

Wow.