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      Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

      2009, Crime/Drama, 2h 1m

      156 Reviews 50,000+ Ratings

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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. Read critic reviews

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      Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans  Photos

      Poster Art Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)

      Movie Info

      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.

      Cast & Crew

      Nicolas Cage
      Eva Mendes
      Val Kilmer
      Xzibit
      Shawn Hatosy
      Tom Bower
      Vondie Curtis Hall
      Irma P. Hall
      Avi Lerner
      Danny Dimbort
      Trevor Short
      Boaz Davidson
      Elliot Rosenblatt
      Peter Zeitlinger
      Joe Bini
      Mark Isham
      Toby Corbett
      Leonard R. Spears
      Jill Newell

      News & Interviews for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

      Critic Reviews for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

      Audience Reviews for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

      • Sep 29, 2012

        This movie for me never really got going, It's all over the place and there isn't really any main plot the film sticks to, After reading reviews saying how brilliant this was I felt kind of let down but this is just my opinion, The only good thing to take away from it was Cages performance was very well done he played a good solid part but apart from that it's a hard film to get into.

        Super Reviewer
      • Sep 01, 2012

        I'll start off by saying this is a very odd movie. It has some very off-putting tonal shifts, often jumping between trippy, serious, and humorous. Nicolas Cage plays a detective in New Orleans who slowly becomes addicted to painkillers, crack, and cocaine which he takes to suppress the pain from a previous accident that he got from getting a prisoner out of a flooded prison. For one reason or another, the film never shows us exactly how he got hurt. There are some really memorable scenes with Cage, such as when he pulls a gun on a senior citizen and when he does crack with a criminal played by Xzibit. The film falls apart by the ending, which was really bad. The biggest mystery around Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is not its title, but the point of it. I'm not sure what the whole film amounts to, and I'm not sure it amounts to anything. Luckily, Cage is there to save it and he is by far the best thing this film has going for it.

        Super Reviewer
      • Jul 23, 2012

        Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is a dark, edgy crime drama with a convoluted plot that goes to some extreme places. The story involves a police lieutenant that develops a drug addiction, and becomes unhinged during a murder investigate. Nicolas Cage delivers one of the most uninhibited performances of his career, and is joined by Eva Mendes, whose performance is fairly good. However, the story is full of tangents, and it really stretches believability. The directing is also problematic, as there are some rather perplexing shots that are incongruent with the overall style of the film. There are some interesting aspects to Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, but overall it doesn't come together all too well.

        Super Reviewer
      • Jun 17, 2012

        Wow, what a wild ride. Credit Werner Herzog for this one; able to unleash Nick Cage in a way we haven't seen since Leaving Las Vegas, Werner presents a surreal tale of a cop who not only falls from grace, but embraces the fall. There's plenty of imagery to go with the story, and several times I wondered if the whole thing wasn't just a dream within a dream, but by the end you can see that Cage's "Bad Lieutenant" is living a double life - and that he prefers it that way, falling not just under the influence of drugs, but embracing the whole drug world - getting off on his power as a cop to coerce people into supplying his needs. He rides the Tiger - defying the odds and somehow, even though stoned out of his mind, manages either by luck or destiny, to bring down not one, but two drug rings. He rides this wave and survives because, as he stated several times during the film - he simply doesn't care one way or the other. If you do indeed truly embrace the void, Werner seems to be telling us, then nothing is impossible or unlikely. Cage is so delightfully over the top, yet somehow you believe in all the histrionics and quirky mannerisms, whether this is because Werner presents the film partly through a drug filled haze where you aren't sure if what you're watching is real or part of Cage's imagination. The beauty of the film is that it doesn't supply an easy answer. It lays out the action and all its little twists and is so strong in its portrayal that both the happy ending and subsequent "real" one both seem sides of a surreal coin. To say that Werner embraces a Lynchian sensibility in this film wouldn't be far wrong, only the narrative is far more cohesive and alluring than some of Lynch's later work. The surreal passages, from squirming river snakes to singing iguanas all set a tone and have a purpose beyond mere shock value, and are more accessible than Lynch's brand of surrealism. This film isn't perfect, however I have to applaud Werner for taking what could have been another typical cop film and infusing it with a totally new direction. If you are expecting a morality tale here, then you will be disappointed, for there isn't one - and that's a beautiful thing; just as it's beautiful to watch a gifted director walk the tightrope between absurd and relevance.

        Super Reviewer

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