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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786304414040
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 6304414048
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: December 30, 1997
Running Time: 111 minutes
Sales Rank: 67747
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: October 27, 1995
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
One of the most critically acclaimed films of 1995, this wrenchingly sad but extraordinarily moving drama provides an authentic, superbly acted portrait of two people whose lives intersect just as they've reached their lowest depths of despair. Ben (Nicolas Cage, in an Oscar-winning performance) is a former movie executive who's lost his wife and family in a sea of alcoholic self-destruction. He's come to Las Vegas literally to drink himself to death, and that's when he meets Sera (Elisabeth Shue), a prostitute who falls in love with him--and he with her--despite their mutual dead-end existence. They accept each other as they are, with no attempts by one to change the other, and this unconditional love turns Leaving Las Vegas into a somber yet quietly beautiful love story. Earning Oscar nominations for Best Director (Mike Figgis), Best Adapted Screenplay (Figgis, from John O'Brien's novel) and Best Actress (Shue), the film may strike some as relentlessly bleak and glacially paced, but attentive viewers will readily discover the richness of these tragic characters and the exceptional performances that bring them to life. (In a sad echo of his own fiction, novelist John O'Brien committed suicide while this film was in production.) The DVD features uncut, unrated footage that was not included in the film's theatrical release. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - 3.5 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:
A pair of virtuoso performances and innovative direction help elevate this story from a simple story of boy-meets-girl to something far more profound and affecting; though the "interview" scenes with Elizabeth Shue don't really work, the meat of the movie is a powerful drama recommended to just about every adult.
Rating: - It may go down smooth, but it burns when it hits your heart...
I just want to say this right off the bat; I honestly think that 1995 has seriously got to be one of the greatest years of film in recent history. There are just so many cinematic gems to be found within that particular year, and `Leaving Las Vegas' is truly one of them. I will admit that I was skeptical at first. I am not a fan of Nicholas Cage, not in the least. He is a very mannered, `actorly' type of an actor; you know the type that always appears to be acting. I prefer my actors to sink ... Read More
Rating: - kling klang king of the rim ram room
Leaving Las Vegas is an Oscar winning movie that takes what should be repulsive material and spins it into gold. The story is about an alcoholic who goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death, and while there he forges a strong relationship with a prostitute. Nicolas Cage won the Oscar for this role, and he really deserved it. Sometimes he makes you laugh with his drunken antics, but often times you absolutely cringe. His drunken attempts at picking up women in bars are really pathetic. The woman ... Read More
Rating:  - The obviousness of the plot made me less sad - 3.5 stars
Cage and Shue perform wonderfully together and with deep respect for their characters' loneliness and vortex of loss. The movie succeeds both as a love story and a tragedy. All of it is summed up when Ben (Cage) looks up to Sera (Shue) and says, "You can never, never ask me to stop drinking. Do you understand?" Ben's face captures the certainty of the proximity of his mortality and the eternity of his sadness: This is not an overstatement. The movie is that sad.
Yet I am annoyed by the ... Read More
Rating: - Overrated acting
I was shocked that Nicholas Cage actually won a Best Actor award for his performance in this film. Cage is not a very strong actor and all he did was simply act drunk throughout the entire film; 1995 most have been a pretty slow year. The screenplay wasn't bad although it was a little cheesy. Worth renting, but not buying.
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