4.0
out of 100
Metascore®Generally favorable reviews Based on a weighted average of all critic review scores.
A sample of reviews from critics across the country.
No one is better at this kind of performance than Nicolas Cage. He's a fearless actor. He doesn't care if you think he goes over the top. If a film calls for it, he will crawl to the top hand over hand with bleeding fingernails.
Read full review
Bad Lieutenant doesn't go where you expect, but it has a stubborn, trippy logic.
Mr. Herzog's film is a pulpy, glorious mess. Its maniacal unpredictability is such a blast that it reminds you just how tidy and dull most crime thrillers are these days.
It's tempting to forget that Cage is not Terence. That would be unfair though, and diminish the sheer ferocity of his performance.
The sparkle is what's been missing in the star's (Cage) recent performances. What's not to love in a movie that transmutes Terence's moral squalor, and the squalid state of post-Katrina New Orleans, into darkly comic gold?
It's a maniacal performance, complete with mad gales of laughter and insane bouts of temper. Cage doesn't go over the top, but he teeters darn close.
There is a lot of very black humor; and it develops, somewhat surprisingly, into something suggesting a kind of cheerful pessimism.
The film is offbeat, silly, disarming and loopy all at the same time, and viewers will decide to ride with that or just give up on it, according to mood and disposition.
See all Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans movie reviews at Metacritic.com
Movies.com Critic
And the Oscar for Crazy goes to...
Read full review | Comments (0)
