Midway through director Werner Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," Nicolas Cage's drug-addicted police detective walks into a room where several of his co-workers are conducting a surveillance operation. He spots a pair of iguanas.
"What are these iguanas doing on my coffee table?" Cage asks.
The puzzled response: "There ain't no iguanas."
The bizarro, hallucinogenic musical interlude that follows will cleave the audience neatly in two.
There will be those who were expecting a gritty, dead-serious police drama in the mold of Abel Ferrara's 1992 original, and who are convinced Herzog is out of his ever-lovin' mind.
Then there will be those who giddily climb on board, recognizing Herzog's surreal and darkly comic crime drama for what it is, and let it take them for a ride.
For the first group, an early exit is a possibility. For the latter bunch, however, "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" -- which shares bupkis with Ferrara's version, outside of the title and the idea of a rogue cop with every imaginable vice -- will play out like a depraved, perfect storm of cinema.
With "Bad Lieutenant," gonzo thespian Cage, whose acting style and script selection have drawn brickbats far and wide, has finally found a project that caters to his larger-than-life line deliveries. He's also found a director in Herzog who shares Cage's fondness for characters living on the edge ("Raising Arizona," "Wild at Heart," "Leaving Las Vegas"), and who is willing to cut him loose and let him swing for the fences.
The result is a deliriously watchable and darkly comic portrait of a high-velocity death spiral.
Oh, there's a story there to motivate Cage's character, New Orleans homicide lieutenant Terrence McDonagh. It's standard stuff -- a multiple slaying, a drug boss whom everybody suspects is behind it, witnesses too scared to cooperate with police -- but all of that is just one big, elaborate MacGuffin. What "Bad Lieutenant" is really about is McDonagh, and the increasingly desperate lengths he must go to keep his hooker girlfriend happy, to keep his bookie happy, and to keep the monkey on his back happy.
In the opening scene, set in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, McDonagh and a fellow cop (Val Kilmer) are watching the water rise in Orleans Parish Prison and betting how long it will take for it to overtake a prisoner left behind in his cell. Soon, however, it becomes clear McDonagh isn't really a bad guy, or a bad lieutenant. He's abrasive, he's ****y -- but he's got a soul, and, brother, he knows police work.
Then comes the back injury. Then the Vicodin prescription. Then the desperate efforts to get his hands on more, and harder, drugs. If he can't swipe it from the evidence room, he'll lift it from a crime scene (the grip of his oversized gun waggling dangerously from his waistband the whole time). And if he can't lift it from a crime scene, he'll stop a young couple who looks like they might be carrying, and he'll lift it from them.
It doesn't even matter what kind of drug it is.
"I need the coke back," a listless McDonagh tells his prostitute girlfriend (Eva Mendes).
"Why?"
"I snorted what I thought was coke. Turns out it was heroin. I need to be back at work in an hour."
The wonderfully unconventional Herzog -- as exciting a filmmaker as there is -- has described "Bad Lieutenant" as a love letter to the city. Locals might have trouble seeing that, though. His film is set here, yes, and he is respectful of our culture, but a love letter?
At least, aside from a fictional barroom named Gator's Retreat, he avoids all the standard New Orleans cliches. No Mardi Gras parades, no "chers," no forced accents. (Although Cage, to his credit, does pronounce "Burgundy" as a local would, with the accent on the second syllable.)
Both actor and director appear to be fully aware of the absurdity of their story, which Herzog has described as "so vile and so depraved."
He's right on both counts, but he forgot one adjective -- it's also so entertaining.
INFOBOX:
BAD LIEUTENANT:
PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS
(R)(R)(R)1/2
Snapshot: A crime drama about a police detective battling multiple addictions as he works to solve a multiple killing. Inspired by Abel Ferrara's 1992 film.
What works: Nicolas Cage turns in a wild, and wildly entertaining, performance, built around a wealth of dark humor.
What doesn't: The story propelling Cage's character is fairly standard,
and the head-scratcher of an ending might leave some cold.
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Jennifer Coolidge, Val Kilmer, Brad Dourif, Michael Shannon. Director: Werner Herzog. Rating: R for drug use and language throughout, some violence and sexuality. Running time: 2 hours 2 minutes.
