Nicholas Cage plays Seth, an angel who's job it is to comfort people and accompany the dying to heaven. He's fascinated with humans and their lifestyles. As he's assisting someone in death on Dr. Maggie Smith's (Meg Ryan) operating table, his eyes meet hers & he falls instantly in love. When Maggie learns that her patient has died, she is totally distraught & realizes she cannot control the lives of her patients. As she's falling apart emotionally, Seth is falling in love, but is upset that he isn't human and cannot be with her.

Enters Nathaniel Messinger (Dennis Franz). He is a patient in the hospital... and a former angel. Messinger informs Seth that he once was an angel, too, and the way to become human is to jump from a high place and "fall" to earth. Meanwhile, Maggie, who doesn't believe in angels, gains a certain curiosity about Seth as he appears to her every once in awhile. As she begins to fall in love with him, she must chose between a fellow doctor or a supernatural being, as Seth must choose to remain an angel or become human to be with the woman that he loves.

The story is truly a romantic story, well crafted & suitable to be viewed by couples. In other words, a great movie to take your "special someone" to. Unfortunately, it has its flaws: language, nudity and sensuality, and the misrepresentation of God's holy beings called "angels." Of course, i knew, just by the previews, that Hollywood has once again twisted the godly to make it in a way, ungodly. But i decided to view the movie with the mindset that it's... only a movie. Like the whole fact that an angel would give up being an angel so he could have premarital sex with a human. Unlikely. But i don't want to sit here at the computer screen and just rip apart this fine movie. It wouldn't be right, but i just have a thing against this world's portrayal of the things that God has created and is holy. In this particular case: angels.

As far as the content goes... the language isn't too bad, but most of it is in the beginning of the film, so it starts out making me think, "Oh no, not another Volcano!" And for those of you who didn't see that horrible film, Volcano, the language was horrendous -- even for a PG-13 film. But amazingly enough, the salty word-choice softens and you can relax and resume eating your popcorn.

As far as nudity goes... well, there's plenty of off-screen nudity. Like, the person is naked, but you only see their shoulders and up. But the worst comes when Maggie and Seth eventually have sex, and it's quite elaborate. There's no nudity, but there is the classic heavy-breathing and Maggie trying to show Seth what it's like to "feel" (Maggie being a "pro"?). There's quite a bit of movement, but again-- no explicit nudity. So, I do advise extreme caution in that there is quite a bit of sensuality and some adult innuendo. In regards to blood/gore... there are numerous scenes in the operating room, where someone's insides are briefly shown (see below for details), but it isn't really bad. It is all rather tastefully done, though I believe they could have done without them showing you Maggie cutting into someone. It's not the worst it could be, but I certainly cringed.

City of Angels actually has its funny moments, many that you may not expect in a serious film like this. But it has its happy moments, its sad moments, its "cringe-because-he-should-have-cut-off-his-thumb" moments. So, you may want to consider what I have said and the below details before viewing this film.

- John DiBiase, (reviewed: 4/14/98)