Leaving Las Vegas

Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 film starring Nicolas Cage.

Ben Sanderson is a depressed Hollywood screenwriter who due to his non-stop alcoholic habits eventually loses both his job and family. All of this causes Ben to decide to commit suicide by drinking himself to death in Las Vegas.

While there, he meets Sera (Elisabeth Shue), a prostitute, and they develop a destructive relationship with each other.

This film was very well recieved by critics and was nominated for four Academy Awards.

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Tropes included:

• The Alcoholic: Ben. He isn't sobre once in the whole movie.
• A Man Is Not a Virgin: Deconstructed. One of the frat boys loses his virginity by raping Sera.
• Anti-Hero: Ben is a Type I.
• Anti-Villain: Yuri is a Type II.
• Author Existence Failure - The film is based on the novel of the same name, by John O'Brien. He committed suicide after the book was optioned.
  • That makes watching the film Harsher in Hindsight. See Money to Burn below.
• Award Bait: Winner for Best Actor and nominated for director, screenwriting and actress. It just so happens to be a depressing movie about an alcoholic.
• Broken Bird: Sera.
• Burn, Baby, Burn: Ben takes most of his belongings from his house and burns them in his backyard before "moving" to Las Vegas.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: The film ends with Ben dying in Sera's arms after he says his final word "Wow."
• Disposable Sex Worker: What the teens thought of Sera.
• Downer Ending: Ben dies, and Sera is left alone, homeless, and gang-raped.
• Driven to Suicide: Ben, after losing everything due to his alcoholism. The film is one long suicide attempt, which is eventually successful.
• Drunk Driver: Ben almost hitting Sera when they first meet.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Nicolas Cage prepared for the role by binge drinking for two weeks in Dublin and having friends videotape the results for later study.
  • Cage was also really drunk during the scene when he freaked out and flipped over a table at a bar.
• Face Death with Dignity: Subverted. Yuri tries to do this, but loses it once Sera walks out of the hotel room.
• Karma Houdini: The frat boys get clean away with gang-raping Sera and videotaping it.
• Hey, It's That Guy!. Ben picks up Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay).
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Sera.
• Hope Spot: Averted. Ben never once considers giving up his alcoholism.
• It Got Worse: For everyone involved.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ben isn't a bad person, but he makes some very bad decisions in his drunken state.
• Large Ham: Ben is probably the most gut-wrenching Large Ham in cinematic history.
• Lost Wedding Ring: Ben's is stolen by a prostitute at the beginning of the movie.
• The Mafiya: Sera's Latvian pimp Yuri and the Polish gangsters after him have shades of this.
• Money to Throw Away: Ben loses his job but gets a large servarance package to compensate him. He uses this money to travel to Las Vegas and purchase as much alcohol as it takes to drink himself to death.
• Noble Demon: Yuri treats Sera like crap, but looks after her in his own twisted way. He also makes sure that she leaves safely before a trio of gangsters show up to execute him.
• Noodle Incident: We never find out how Ben lost his family. As he puts it, "I can't remember if I drink because I lost my family or if I lost my family because I drink".
• Platonic Prostitution: Ben buys Sera's time for $500. He uses this time to talk to her and get to know her.
• Prolonged Prologue: It takes 15 minutes until the opening credits. This works in the movie's favour, as these first 15 minutes tell us everything we need to know about Ben before he heads for Las Vegas.
• Random Passerby Advice: Ben storms away from the food court while Sera calls after him to stay. A passerby tells him he ought to stay, and does so in such a way that it seems he has some sort of plot significance. He doesn't.
• Rape as Drama
• Shower of Angst: Sera, after being gang-raped.
• Supporting Protagonist: Ben. Once he arrives in Las Vegas, the story becomes more about Sera's downbeat life than his protracted suicide.
• This Bed of Roses
• Tragic Villain: Yuri has made his fair share of mistakes and clearly doesn't like what he's become, but that doesn't excuse his actions at all.
• Useless Protagonist: Ben is a heartbreakingly Justified example. The entire film, he's too drunk to do anything to change his or Sera's circumstances.
• Villainous Breakdown: Yuri loses it just before his execution.
• Viva Las Vegas: Perhaps the most depressing version of the city.