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Starring: Nicholas Cage, Meg Ryan
Director: Brad Silberling
Genre: Drama
Year: 1998
Rating: 2 / 5

City of Angels, Meg Ryan's latest tear-jerker co-starring the red-hot Nicholas Cage, is a seemingly enjoyable piece of film-making which falls just short when it comes to satisfaction at the end. While the viewer is immediately drawn into this movie and the characters therein, the end does not justify the means, and the viewer is left with a feeling of unfulfillment.

Meg Ryan (Joe Vs. the Volcano, Innerspace) and Nicholas Cage (The Rock, Face/Off) both turn in fine performances here, but I am left wondering why these two individuals end up together. Cage plays Seth, an angel of the Lord who, along with countless other angels, prays each morning along the Pacific Coast, unseen to all but the dying and the delirious. He and his brethren float about the city, doing the occassional good deed and transporting new spirits to the afterlife. It is during one of these normal occurrances that Cage encounters Ryan, an up-and-coming surgeon who is in the midst of questioning her beliefs in medicine. While operating on a poor soul, Ryan begins to feel as though the life and death of her patients is beyond her control, and as a doctor, whose job it is to save these people, she finds this unaccaptable. It is through sharing this experience with her and gazing into her eyes that Cage realizes that this is someone for whom he would give up everything.

Up to this point, the story meanders along in a believable way, but one soon comes to wonder why, after living for an eternity and passing in and out of the lives of millions of people, Cage falls for Meg Ryan. Ryan's character Maggie is difficult, obsessive, and can be a downright pain in the derriere. Through meeting Dennis Franz, a former angel who has "fallen" to earth, Cage learns that he can sacrifice immortality to be with Ryan, but there is no going back. It is a choice Fransz made some years back, a decision for which he is eternally grateful. It is this choice, though, which drives Cage and the movie itself.

The cast of City of Angels is appealling and of the highest quality, from the leads on down through Franz's fallen angel Messinger and Andre Braugher's (Homicide) angel Cassiel. But this is a case where the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts. I am left wondering if the writers could have done more with these characters, to produce a greater payoff for the audience. When it comes to video stores, give it a try, but until then, bide your time. Heavan can wait.

Cast:

Nicholas Cage..........	Seth
Meg Ryan..........	Maggie
Andre Braugher..........	Cassiel
Dennis Franz..........	Messinger

Certification: PG-13 for sexuality, language, and some nudity.
Running Time: 114 minutes.

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