‘Vegas’ Takes You Down And Lets You Drink It In

Some movie fans require their happy endings. Yes, they tell Hollywood, it’s OK to make us cry, but leave us something to smile about.

“Sense and Sensibility” does exactly that, which is why it comes as no surprise that many critics are hyping the well-made - and thoroughly British - production for a Best Picture Oscar.

Mike Figgis’ “Leaving Las Vegas,” in contrast, falls down on the smile part. And yet it, too, is receiving Oscar attention. Go figure.

It’s not as if films with unhappy endings and/or harsh dramatic themes have been shut out of Oscar contention. “Midnight Cowboy” didn’t exactly boast a Disneyland sensibility, but it was the Best Picture of 1969. “Platoon” was no lighthearted look at military life, yet it won in 1986.

But in terms of a dramatic descent into the netherworld, “Leaving Las Vegas” is in a class by itself. Adapted from a roman a clef of the same name by the late novelist John O’Brien, it is a simple little tale of a man named Ben who sells everything he has, moves to Las Vegas and commences to drink himself to death. His only companion is a hooker name Sera (pronounced Sarah), who, in a curious act of devotion, agrees not to try and stop him.

In your ordinary Hollywood offering, she would break her promise. And he, finding in her the support that has been missing all his life, would develop the strength to go on. The downbeat part, if it were to be included, would be that he would go on without her.

But Figgis, following O’Brien’s lead, isn’t interested in a Hollywood take on life. His Ben isn’t about to be swayed from his course; sick of life, he’s intent on drowning in a 100-proof rain squall.

Clearly, this is not “Honeymoon in Vegas.” For all the comic qualities Nicolas Cage displayed in that film, he turns in a superb dramatic performance as the doomed drunk here.

Whether it’s his finest role is open to debate, considering he’s been terrific in everything from “Peggy Sue Got Married” to the recent film noir remake, “Kiss of Death.” But as an actor who virtually inhabits each role he takes, Cage does bring his personal brand of offbeat intensity to the bittersweet saga of Ben.

The result engenders enough humor to eliminate any melodrama, enough heaviness to convince us that the phrase “friendly drunk” is a clear contradiction of terms.

As Sera, the doe-eyed Elisabeth Shue is less successful. The older sister of “Melrose Place” hunk Andrew Shue, she has the unenviable task of playing a role that would be perfect for Jennifer Jason Leigh.

For while Leigh has the depth necessary to delve deep into the dark night of Sera’s soul, Shue seems to be merely visiting. While Leigh is the kind of actress who can become, albeit virtually, a hooker, Shue - who is not without talent - can only play one.

Yet she is not the main problem with “Leaving Las Vegas.” The film’s troubles begin with the script, which director Figgis adapted from O’Brien’s novel.

Maybe it’s enough to know that O’Brien was himself a binge-drinking alcoholic who, shortly after making the movie deal, committed suicide. For while that gives the plot of “Leaving Las Vegas” a sense of veracity, it also ensures that the film itself is going to be less of a roller coaster of the emotions than a long, slow and gradual slide into despondency and death.

Is there a ray of hope here anywhere? Maybe, if you look at the characters’ names: Ben is the past tense of to be, Sera is the Italian word for the same verb’s future tense.

Which translates out to Been and Will Be.

Which, while maybe saying something auspicious for Sera, still seems pretty heavy-handed.

Ultimately, your reaction to “Leaving Las Vegas” may depend on how much you appreciate good acting (Cage’s), a director’s tenacious effort to follow self-destruction to its logical end and how tolerant you are of the complex emotional ties that link kindred spirits in the face of an unkind world.

Whatever, you’re not likely to exit the theater whistling “Viva Las Vegas.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: Two sidebars appeared with the story: 1. “Leaving Las Vegas” ** 1/2 Location: Lyons Ave. Cinemas Credits: Written and directed by Mike Figgis, adapted from the novel by John O’Brien, starring Nicholas Cage, Elisabeth Shue and Julian Sands Running time: 1:52 Rating: R

2. OTHER VIEWS Kenneth Turan/Los Angeles Times: “Leaving Las Vegas” is a film laden with virtues but difficult to embrace. Beautifully put together, sensitively acted by Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue, directed by Mike Figgis with assurance and style and making exceptional use of its musical score, this doomed romance is finally not as satisfying as all of that would have you believe. Janet Maslin/New York Times: This film simply works as a character study, pitilessly well observed and intimately familiar with its terrain. Bob Strauss/Los Angeles Daily News: “Leaving Las Vegas” shares a title and a certain sense of liquored-up wooziness with Sheryl Crow songs. But there’s not a second of upbeat perkiness to this remarkably acted, relentlessly sad movie. That, at its core, the film is about a brilliant, fast-burning, unconditional love only seems to make it more of a tragedy; its central couple give each other so much, you just wish to heaven that they weren’t so screwed up. Soren Andersen/ScrippsMcClatchy Western Service: This is not one of those tidy redemptive tales that Hollywood is so fond of making when the subject is substance abuse. … This is not a picture about someone fighting to get a monkey off his back. This is a tale of someone who has embraced the monkey wholeheartedly even though the monkey is the size of King Kong and is returning that embrace with a monster’s strength.