Lev Lewis reporting from the Toronto International Film Festival.Just came from a screening of The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and let me just say that it's an insane, rollicking and at times brilliant piece of cinema. I wasn't expecting my thoughts to be anything but negative, but Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage really hit this one out of the park.
It's easily Cage's best performance since Adaptation; at this point I'd even say that the Academy owes him some recognition. Believe me that's not something I thought I'd be saying after the appalling work Cage has done in the last few years. But in The Bad Lieutenant he takes all his absurd, comical ticks and mannerisms and creates a bizarre, thrilling character that carries the lunatic film.
Editors note: "WHAT?"It's truly a once in a lifetime experience. They've constructed a ludicrous and hilarious takedown of the cop genre that's imbued with Herzog's unique sensibility.
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