Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. A-.
"But seriously. What's with the fucking iguanas?"
Perhaps the most fun I've had at a movie in '09, "Bad Lieutenant" is a gonzo good time. Or, at least it's as good a time as one might have watching Nic Cage go oxicontin crazy. Which is actually quite fun. Whereas Abel Ferrara's "Lieutenant" was dour and poetic, Herzog's adaptation (in name only, really) is cynical, comical and a great study of institutional failures. Using a decaying, post-Katrina landscape to show Cage's Liutenant McDonough crazy trip, this is the best time you'll ever have at a cliched, independent drug movie. Or, Herzog rules.
Worth its weight in Peruvian blow - in the 45-minute post-film conversation I had with my sister and her fiancee, we touched upon:
- How fucked up Katrina and the police are.
- Nic Cage's posture and posturing, and just how nuts he is.
- Accepting the fact that Nic Cage is a weird, but truly talented man.
- The over-the-top nature of the humor, and how well it worked. Like pointing guns at the feeble.
- The Iguanas.
- The Soul. It's still dancing. SHOOT HIM AGAIN!
Find it. See it. This is gonna be waaaay limited. But it's so worthwhile. Fun.
