Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

I was initially kinda angry when I found out this wasn't a real documentary. I had this weird emotional dump. It's hard to describe but I felt cheated in a way.

Thankfully though it also works as a regular narrative film, so I've gotten past them feelings and tried judging it based on that. A fictional film with mostly non-actors. And by them standards, it's still very very good. One of the best of the year actually. Which kinda begs the question, why did they even feel the need to try to sell it as a doc in the first place?

Enter a Las Vegas dive bar on its final night before closing. The inhabitants are as shabby and unremarkable as you might expect, at first glimpse at least. When sticking around to observe them for an entire night, you begin to understand the humanity of these so-called societal rejects and failures. Sure, they might be unshowered, wreaking of booze and cigarettes, and unable to come up with a single answer to Jeopardy! but they are people who crave and deserve a sense of belonging just as much as any 9 to 5 office employee. There's a heart to this story that offers a dash of hope. Then the bar closes and everyone moves on.

The movie and dive into the lives of these bar flies is fantastic! I love the story and watching people who love their neighborhood watering hole. However, this does not take place in Las Vegas. This bar has never existed in Las Vegas. There are a few pickup shots from the city, but everything else is filmed in Louisiana. As a Las Vegan born and raised, it took this movie from an 8 to a 5 very quickly. It's disappointing seeing a film try and fail so hard to capture what Las Vegas is really like.

I recommend it for the human side. Attempting to set it in Las Vegas takes away more than it adds once you see it's not a Vegas Bar.

How do I even begin to write this review? Just wanted to chime in and say this off beat film is about a bar in Las Vegas closing down. The whole film focusses on patrons to the bars - alcoholics, middle aged people, unhappy people, people complaining about their lives, what could have been - all well behaved despite their fragile undercurrent. Loved, loved it.

They described it here as a feelgood film. It is not.