Of course, helping matters is the fact Herzog gets an entertainingly wacked-out performance by Nicolas Cage, playing Terence McDonough, an insomniac good  cop with a bad back and lots of bad habits, including addictions to Vicodin, cocaine, gambling and sex. His latest case involves the death of Senegalese immigrants, and it sends his investigation onto the trail of drug dealers, bookies, and politically-connected suspects. At a certain point, Herzog seems to give up

on the police procedural aspects of NYPD Blue alumnus William Finkelsteins script and decides to put more of an accent on  Cages quirky mannerisms  and sordid activities. This approach finds Herzog taking a route that can only be described as weird, with shots taken from an alligators point-of-view and trippy close-ups of iguanas. Reptiles and Cage aside, POCNO also features some nice supporting work from Eva Mendes as Cages hooker girlfriend, Fairuza Balk as policewoman and Alvin Xzibit Joiner as a drug kingpin, although Val Kilmer, Michael Shannon and Jennifer Coolidge are underused in other parts.

POCNO may be an enjoyably raunchy riff through the underbelly of law and disorder, but it misses its target of becoming a genuine cult classic of auteur absurdism. A bizarre reversal of the McDonough characters motivations followed by a surprise ending only add to the chaos, a state in which Herzog and Cage clearly enjoy even if they dont necessarily thrive in.

Nick 4 Life's notes:  It's really too bad this movie wasn't nominated for any accolades and Nic wasn't recognized more.  It really is an interesting movie.