In this 1995 film, Nicolas Cage plays Ben, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who boozes himself out of a job and into a life of desperation and solitude before heading to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. In between binges and dangerous drunk-driving episodes (one in which a motorcycle cop pulls up alongside Ben just as he lowers a bottle of vodka out of view), he meets a prostitute named Sera (Elisabeth Shue). The two bond over their destructiveness, attempting to outdo each other at every turn. Cage — who videotaped himself drunk to prepare for the role — won the Oscar for Best Actor and Shue was nominated for Best Actress.
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