Eye Candy #276 - "Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call New Orleans"

Bad Lieutenant Port of Call New Orleans: Why Hollywood thought we needed another “Bad Lieutenant” after the full front nakedity of Harvey Keitel in the first one is beyond me, so it was with much trepidation that I checked this one out (rumor has it the “Bad Lieutenant” moniker was added by Hollywood marketing types, not because it is direct or indirect sequel/remake of the original film). Nic Cage is Lt. Terence McDonagh of the New Orleans police department, post Hurricane Katrina. He’s a misogynist, a misanthrope, a pervert, a drug addict, a gambling addict, and generally all around corrupt, unlikable guy. He does however seem to have incredible luck, though this luck seems to wax good and bad at different times. When he finds himself heading an investigation into a family of Senegalese immigrants who were violently murdered, he is soon running afoul of his bookie, his prostitute girlfriend’s johns, the mob, various drug dealers, other law enforcement, and pretty much anyone with a pulse in the Orleans parish, and the only way to extricate himself is to somehow appease, buy off, lie, or kill those who he’s angered. Cage is watchable as McDonagh, though he has certain affectations that make no sense (his accent is bizarre and fleeting). There is a solid supporting cast here, with Val Kilmer, Xzibit, Brad Dourif, and Eva Mendes, but most of them aren’t given a whole lot to do. Director Werner Herzog, who has directed several movies I really enjoy, seems gratuitous here. There’s a whole vignette devoted to a drug-addled McDonagh watching two lizards in a house, with the camera in extreme close-up, for no real point or with any great effect. The film does a good job catching the overall eclectic feel of New Orleans. So…I watched the film. It was fine. One of the best movies of 2009, as some proclaimed? No. Woodchuck sez, “Not for all tastes.”