atomicgirl-34996 Everyone thinks that when Nicolas Cage does his crazy shtick, he's really cute. I don't. He reminds me of Rod Steiger. When he's good, he's really good (see Kickass). When he's bad, he's so bad that he can literally ruin and otherwise decent film.That is certainly the case with Vampire's Kiss. This movie came out during the Reagan Era when the homeless crisis was at its height. People hated the homeless; they wrote them off as disgusting bums who probably didn't even graduate from high school and had chosen to become homeless rather than work. The reality is that many of them had been completely responsible adults holding down decent jobs and even raising families before becoming mentally ill. A surprising number had even served their country as vets in Vietnam before PTSD messed them up. If Vampire's Kiss had been cast with a much better actor, it would've been a poignant film exposing how so many of the homeless were just ordinary, hard working people who had fallen through the cracks after becoming mentally ill. Unfortunately, all of this brilliant insight is thrown out the window because of Nicolas Cage, who just decided that he was really acting in some kind of twisted dark comedy. He also seemed to have no idea who or what his character was supposed to be. He's supposed to be playing this high powered, arrogant Yuppie who then starts suffering from schizophrenia as soon as he has a run in with a prostitute. I have no idea what Cage was thinking but he plays the character as if the movie was a slapstick comedy.For example, there's a scene where his character buys fangs and then tries them out in a city park. This is supposed to be the turning point when he falls deeper into his psychosis that he is turning into a vampire. Instead of playing the scene out with any seriousness, he plays it for laughs, screaming, "I'm a vampire! I'm a vampire! I'm a vampire!" People frequently point to that scene as being oh, so funny...the problem is that it wasn't supposed to be funny.In any event, you get the idea. This is not a good movie. People have been trying to make it into something that it's not by claiming it's some kind of dark comedy. But it's not a dark comedy at all. It's a bleak drama in which Nicolas Cage's ineptitude has resulted in unintentionally funny moments. So, a 1/10 for me.

mdavidson-83436 The beginning of this movie was like a slow burning of the eyes and ears. Nicholas Cage's character is strange, but misses the mark when it comes to actual comedy. Fortunately, if you can sit through the first three-quarters of the movie, which consist mostly of Nicholas Cage getting angry at his assistant over missing files, then you might just get to see the somewhat redeemable ending.

dworldeater Vampire's Kiss is a pretty original dark comedy/horror film starring Nicolas Cage in one of his best performances. Cage is an executive in NYC that throughout the course of the movie is convinced he is a vampire. Cage's character is on a rapid downward spiral to complete insanity. Whether loneliness or too much stress is a factor, it is never specified. I have no idea what types of drugs Cage was taking, but he is totally bonkers in this film. Maria Conchita Alonso is his office assistant and doormat of which his abuse towards her escalates throughout the course of the film. Once Cage is convinced he is a vampire, he embraces his destiny. He has an aversion to sunlight and sleeps under his couch upside down like it is a coffin. He even bought some three dollar fangs in the local occult store. Now that's commitment to the lifestyle! Combine George A Romero's Martin with American Psycho if you want to get an idea of the style of Vampire's Kiss. Anyway you slice it this is one freaky deaky film and it works due to Cage's wild, eccentric and absolutely unhinged and explosive performance. If you are looking for something dark, offbeat, but well done this is one you won't want to miss.

Scott LeBrun Off the wall black comedy about Peter Loew (Nicolas Cage), a literary agent in NYC. Peter, dissatisfied with the nature of his life, has an encounter with a one night stand, Rachel (Jennifer Beals). She bites him on the neck, and the increasingly unstable Peter believes that she is a vampire and just turned him into one. He makes life absolutely miserable for his flustered secretary Alva (Maria Conchita Alonso), while going about doing what he thinks a vampire's gotta do.Joseph Minion ("After Hours") wrote the screenplay for this movie that, if nothing else, will go down in history for Cages' performance. We've seen him be prone to shameless overacting, but here his eccentricities reach one of their peaks (see also "Deadfall"). As other reviews have stated, though, there is more going on here than meets the eye; the movie isn't really to be taken literally. Yes, there's violence (the gore is courtesy of Ed French), and a few pointed teeth, but it's not too hard to reason that Peter is really manufacturing all of these nightmare scenarios in his head. A rather uncomfortable bit of business with Peters' office harassment of his poor secretary forms the major subplot.Cage really is something to see, as he overturns his sofa, crawls beneath it, and turns it into a makeshift "coffin", shuns the sunlight, and is forced to buy ultra cheap plastic fangs. He's rarely been THIS unrestrained. He even affects a light, posh accent at times that is just downright silly. The supporting cast is fine (Elizabeth Ashley plays Peters' psychiatrist, Kasi Lemmons a potential girlfriend), and the ladies are all tantalizingly sexy. Now familiar faces like John Michael Higgins and David Hyde Pierce have small roles. The filmmaking isn't especially stylish but it's competent enough. (The photography is just gorgeous at times.)"Vampire's Kiss" does generate some modest chuckles. It's kind of tough going at times, and really should have been shorter, but it makes for some decent entertainment.Six out of 10.