Leaving Las Vegas poster

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Film · 1h 51m · Rated R

Drama, Romance

A self-destructive screenwriter finds a bleak, darkly comic connection with a sex worker in Las Vegas.

Melancholy, with dark satire. A full-attention watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is devastating.

Streaming on MGM+, Kanopy (free), Hoopla (free), Plex (free) and Tubi (free).

Leaving Las Vegas parents guide

Strong sex and nudity, which is more than most R titles carry. Beyond that, some violence and frequent strong language.

Scare
Not scary
Jump scares
None noted
Gore
Light gore
Some blood or injury, briefly.
Violence
Some violence
Some fighting or peril.
Sex and nudity
Strong
Strong means explicit or repeated sex, extended nudity, or sexual assault shown on screen, attempted or completed, even partly off screen. Any one of these is enough.
Language
Strong
Frequent strong profanity or slurs.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

How gory is Leaving Las Vegas?
Light gore and some violence.
What is Leaving Las Vegas rated, and is it OK for kids?
Strong sex and nudity, and frequent strong language. The R is earned, so not for kids.

What is Leaving Las Vegas about?

Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

No. Brace yourself.

Cast and crew

Directed byMike Figgis
StarringNicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis, Steven Weber, Kim Adams

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Leaving Las Vegas is on our Set in Los Angeles, Romance on Tubi, Romance on Kanopy and Romance on Hoopla lists.

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.