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Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Play trailer Poster for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans R Released Nov 20, 2009 2h 1m Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
86% Tomatometer 153 Reviews 57% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage) isn't doing so well. He has a nasty painkiller addiction, courtesy of an injury he sustained while rescuing a prisoner during Hurricane Katrina. Plus, there's his alcoholic father (Tom Bower), boozy wife (Jennifer Coolidge) and prostitute girlfriend (Eva Mendes). And, he's just been saddled with a rookie partner (Shawn Hatosy). Now Terence must pull himself back from the edge of insanity to investigate a series of murders that has the city on edge.
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Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

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Critics Consensus

Befitting its unorthodox origins, this Bad Lieutenant benefits from Werner Herzog's typically fearless direction and a delightfully unhinged Nicolas Cage in the title role.

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Critics Reviews

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Deborah Ross The Spectator Bad Lieutenant invites us along for the ride, and even says 'welcome aboard' and asks: how might we entertain you today? This is Herzog and it's fun, and you don't get many of those for the pound. Get it while you can. Aug 30, 2018 Full Review Candice Frederick Reel Talk Online Gritty, raw, and kooky at times, Bad Lieutenant is one of those movies that you can't really look away, even though you may want to for certain scenes. Rated: B+ Sep 11, 2017 Full Review Lou Lumenick New York Post Rated: 2.5/4 Nov 19, 2011 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills One of Herzog's more artistically successful rare ventures into quasi-commercial, quasi-Hollywood filmmaking... Nov 10, 2023 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review From the obsession-obsessed director Werner Herzog [...] it boasts one of the best performances from its star, Nicolas Cage. Rated: 4/4 Aug 28, 2023 Full Review Emiliano Basile EscribiendoCine Herzog introduces us to a story with a protagonist whose actions overflow with decadence, not only reflecting upon Christian morality like Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant (1992) but revealing a New Orleans damned by decadence. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 8/10 Aug 1, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member I haven't even watched the movie but there are some scenes I saw on youtube and they were really good. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/16/24 Full Review Rafaelle L Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans as a Commentary on Jazz Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) might not immediately appear to be a commentary on jazz, but if you view it through the lens of improvisation, chaos, and the resilience of spirit, it becomes a kind of cinematic jazz composition. Much like a jazz performance, the film embraces dissonance, allowing its protagonist, Terrence McDonagh (played by Nicolas Cage), to riff wildly through the narrative like a soloist lost in a frenetic improvisation. The movie’s unpredictable shifts in tone and rhythm, its mix of absurdity, beauty, and decay, mirror the essence of jazz itself. At its core, jazz is about tension and release, about finding harmony amid chaos, and that is exactly how the film unfolds. McDonagh’s journey, spiraling into addiction, corruption, and delusion, echoes the improvisational structure of a jazz piece—where each note or decision threatens to fall apart but somehow resolves into something new. Cage’s performance feels akin to the great jazz solos: erratic, sometimes off-kilter, but undeniably compelling. His portrayal of a man constantly walking the tightrope between brilliance and madness captures the essence of jazz’s precarious balance between structure and freedom. New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, is the film’s backdrop, but Herzog’s vision of the city post-Hurricane Katrina is a broken, surreal version of its former self. Much like a jazz tune performed in a minor key, this setting speaks to resilience amidst ruin. The film captures New Orleans in all its contradictions—the decay, the humor, the bursts of life that refuse to be drowned by disaster. This is jazz in visual form: the survival of beauty in the wreckage, the soul of the city speaking through its fractures. The surreal moments in the film, such as the infamous scene involving hallucinatory iguanas, can be seen as Herzog’s experimental interludes—improvisational asides that, like a jazz musician’s wildest flights of fancy, challenge the audience to follow along with the unusual beat. Herzog, much like a jazz composer, layers unexpected sounds and visual rhythms into his narrative, pulling the viewer into a space where reason and absurdity coexist. In this way, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans serves as a cinematic reflection of jazz’s ethos: embracing unpredictability, finding new paths through familiar structures, and capturing the raw, untamed beauty of life in its most discordant moments. It’s a movie that, much like jazz itself, asks us to find meaning in the chaos, and to appreciate the moments of grace that rise from it. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/22/24 Full Review Chief B Such an underrated movie. I don't want to compare it with the first one that's pretty good but this one is superior. I enjoyed every minute of it. And it's Nicolas Cage at his best Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/06/24 Full Review rik b Definitely one of Nic Cage best performances and films he and this mega talented cast made. It shocks me how this is not 5 stars from most all reviews There are scenes in this where Nic goes to super levels with his brilliance and incredible skills. And it's also a very interesting crime/mystery also. Great script. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/19/24 Full Review Drew F Both Cage and Herzog's best film. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/09/24 Full Review Paul S Wow that's awful. Feels false at every moment, and what a waste to be set in New Orleans with so little local character. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/06/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage) isn't doing so well. He has a nasty painkiller addiction, courtesy of an injury he sustained while rescuing a prisoner during Hurricane Katrina. Plus, there's his alcoholic father (Tom Bower), boozy wife (Jennifer Coolidge) and prostitute girlfriend (Eva Mendes). And, he's just been saddled with a rookie partner (Shawn Hatosy). Now Terence must pull himself back from the edge of insanity to investigate a series of murders that has the city on edge.
Director
Werner Herzog
Producer
Edward R. Pressman, Randall Emmett, Alan Polsky, Gabe Polsky, Stephen Belafonte
Screenwriter
William M. Finkelstein
Distributor
First Look
Production Co
Edward R. Pressman Film Corp., Saturn Films, Millennium Films
Rating
R (Language Throughout|Drug Use|Sexuality|Some Violence)
Genre
Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 20, 2009, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 11, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$1.7M
Runtime
2h 1m
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