The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans
First Look Pictures | Release Date: November 20, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
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
100
EmpireAdam Smith
An exhilarating riff on the cop-thriller drama by a director at the top of his game -- Herzog is also at his most accessible here -- powered by an incendiary performance from Nicolas Cage. A very bad lieutenant, then. And a bloody good film. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Bad Lieutenant doesn't go where you expect, but it has a stubborn, trippy logic. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The marvel of Cage's performance is that, somehow, it's all of a piece. That's the marvel of the movie, too. This is one fever dream you'll remember whole. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
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. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
It's tempting to forget that Cage is not Terence. That would be unfair though, and diminish the sheer ferocity of his performance. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
A true feat of daring and one of the craziest films of the year. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Frankly, the story isn’t remotely as interesting as Cage. Nothing is. In Ferrara’s movie, Keitel emptied himself out. But there’s a hellion’s joy in Cage’s cop. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
It’s not always easy to sort out the legitimately inspired touches from the merely campy ones, but the film has a deranged, go-for-broke spirit that makes such distinctions irrelevant. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Herzog deserves the lion's share of the credit for the movie's quality, but Port of Call New Orleans is also a comeback for Cage. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
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? Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Less like a movie than an interpretive-dance piece, with Cage as its lurching, depressed-satyr star. Read full review
80
Film ThreatJessica Baxter
Nicolas Cage is a joy to watch, and Werner Herzog is a brilliant storyteller. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
It's that constant weirdness, coupled with Nicolas Cage's best performance in pretty much forever, that makes this depraved, sexually charged, over-the-top drama so much fun to watch. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
For filmgoers whose tastes run to pulp genre frissons, auteurist brio and Nicolas Cage at his most luridly over-the-top, Bad Lieutenant scores a kind of freaky-deaky home run. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Surprisingly funny yarn about a drug-addled cop in the Big Easy. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
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. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
A one-of-a-kind experience that boasts a twice-in-a-lifetime performance from Nicolas Cage. The actor has not gone this deep into the abyss since "Vampire's Kiss" (1989). Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
The result is a deliriously watchable and darkly comic portrait of a high-velocity death spiral. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett
There is a lot of very black humor; and it develops, somewhat surprisingly, into something suggesting a kind of cheerful pessimism. Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
This movie is a freaky little swamp thing. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
This is the best performance Cage has delivered in ages, and Herzog demonstrates, once again, that he is capable of virtually anything. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Comparisons to the original Bad Lieutenant are unnecessary; Port of Call New Orleans can stand - and fall - on its own merits, inconsistent though they may be. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Any resemblance between this Bad Lieutenant and the 1992 Abel Ferrara landmark is purely in the head of the dude who thought up the title. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle Smith
There can only ever be one Bad Lieutenant: Harvey Keitel. In Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Nicolas Cage, pretend tough guy (Malibu accent, long floppy coiffure, nervous smile), is more like the Bad Used-Car Salesman. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith Uhlich
Cage is not quite Aguirre or Fitzcarraldo in the Big Easy. But his performance hits all the right mythopoetic beats, rising above the thin script and late-night-cable aesthetic. Read full review
50
PremiereMark Salisbury
Those expecting a return to the depravity and menace of Abel Ferrara’s 1992 notorious original will be disappointed. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
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. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
If there’s a sure thing in movies, it’s that if you cast Nicolas Cage in a role in which he goes crazy, he’ll rise to the occasion and keep on rising until he seems even loonier than his character. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Instead of plumbing the depths of spiritual degradation, Herzog's movie is--largely due to Cage's performance--almost fun. Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid Denby
The movie is a mess, but it’s certainly not dull. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
The film is an exasperating bore. Read full review
More From This Movie

69 Critic Reviews

6.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL