- Review: John Wick 3 (C)
Scott Sycamore - Weekend Box Office
May 17 - 19 - Crowd Reports
Avengers: Endgame - Us
Box office comparisons - Review: Justice League (C)
Craig Younkin
Movie Review
Coffee and Cigarettes
By Lee Tistaert Published May 18, 2004
US Release: May 14, 2004
Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Roberto Benigni , Cate Blanchett , Steve Buscemi , Bill Murray
R
Running Time: 96 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $1,971,000
Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Roberto Benigni , Cate Blanchett , Steve Buscemi , Bill Murray
R
Running Time: 96 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $1,971,000
C+
A good cast in a project like this with a solid film noir flare...a supreme opportunity for its actors to fly in their performances, and then it all sputters along.
A movie like Coffee and Cigarettes really annoys me ? the film is not bad, as it is a unique experiment, one of which that can retrieve sparkling results if executed properly. It?s just that you see a good cast in a project like this with a solid film noir flare, with the setting being a supreme opportunity for its actors to fly in their performances, and then you watch as it all sputters along.
Told in eleven short stories unrelated to each other and set in caf?s, we simply ease drop on conversations between two individuals in each setting, and on one occasion, three individuals. Each conversation surrounds coffee and cigarettes in some way: sometimes it is just a slight mention, and sometimes the conversation revolves around that topic. For an hour and forty-five minutes, we venture along through each vignette to see what the actors will say.
Writer/director Jim Jarmusch has the right idea and lured in the right cast to fulfill such an idea, but the execution is where this project goes up in flames. Coffee and Cigarettes is too long, too pretentious, not funny enough, and not intriguing enough to spark the reaction it strives to create. And the thing is, the film?s running time would be fine with this cast and this director?s style ? it?s that we?re forced to put up with many scenes that are literally about nothing.
The film starts off on a pretty good note, focusing on a witty talk between Roberto Benigni and Steven Wright. Once this scene concludes, though, we are shown a number of clips that are not amusing (and they?re hopefully not meant to be), and not much takes place within these scenarios. The one thing that is obvious is that Jarmusch loves his actors: even when his performers aren?t doing anything, he leaves the camera rolling for us to see their mannerisms.
In some clips, there isn?t even consistent dialogue, and yet we still watch the actors sit there, sometimes not even staring at each other; there are two clips in particular, one entitled ?Renee? and is agonizing to endure, and the other, ?Problems.? In ?Renee,? a woman is bothered by a waiter who recognizes her from somewhere, and she keeps brushing him off. In this clip there is so much silence (with Renee simply reading a magazine) that you?re kicking and screaming, demanding that the next clip be shown, even if that clip isn?t good.
In ?Problems,? two guys reunite and struggle to maintain a conversation. One of the guys presumes that the other has a problem to discuss, and that guy isn?t willing to dwell on that note. We wait through their silences, hoping that this social predicament arrives somewhere in destination sometime soon; when the end result arrives, we feel robbed of time, and are cheated.
Those two clips are a pretty good summary of most of the vignettes involved, as too many of the stories don?t have a point, and most of them are drop dead boring. The film triumphs in one area, and that is making you excited when the few good clips come. We have to wait a long while for the Alfred Molina clip (which is possibly the best part), and not surprisingly, the RZA/Bill Murray bit is the second to last clip in the movie (which is sort of amusing but not fulfilling). And the last scene, which should be a rousing finale to this coffee and cigarettes experiment, is slow and dull.
Having sat through this film and having understood what Jarmusch?s intent was, it is very disappointing to see such a project deliver such underwhelming results. Coffee and Cigarettes was no doubt improvised to some extent, but it seems as if the wrong outline was set for the actors to follow. In Christopher Guest?s mockumentary films, his actors follow a general outline of what notes to eventually hit, and he lets them reach those notes through whatever route they desire. Usually the actors do a very fine job of this task, and sometimes they are very funny.
With Coffee and Cigarettes, one possibility is that some of the actors aren?t sharp enough to improv smoothly on a moment?s notice (and to follow through in a sketch). But part of me doubts that possibility, as it feels like many of these actors have a presence that could ignite the screen given the right context ? they look restrained, as if they?re not allowed to do what they want.
This film experiment could have been a wall-to-wall laughter treat, but even if it wasn?t, it could?ve been a fascinating social engagement, and it fails to achieve either benchmark to any extent. There are some laughs rolled up in this show and there are some chuckles, but they are so distanced apart from one another that you walk out confused about what you just experienced.
If you?ve seen the trailer, you have a decent glimpse at the best moments, even if some of the amusements aren?t included; even so, paying $7 - 10 dollars at the ticket window for those extra moments and enduring the rest is just not worth it. Coffee and Cigarettes is a classic rental scenario ? if you watch the good segments and fast forward through everything else, you will be internally grateful that your Saturday night was not dragged down in enjoyment.
Told in eleven short stories unrelated to each other and set in caf?s, we simply ease drop on conversations between two individuals in each setting, and on one occasion, three individuals. Each conversation surrounds coffee and cigarettes in some way: sometimes it is just a slight mention, and sometimes the conversation revolves around that topic. For an hour and forty-five minutes, we venture along through each vignette to see what the actors will say.
Writer/director Jim Jarmusch has the right idea and lured in the right cast to fulfill such an idea, but the execution is where this project goes up in flames. Coffee and Cigarettes is too long, too pretentious, not funny enough, and not intriguing enough to spark the reaction it strives to create. And the thing is, the film?s running time would be fine with this cast and this director?s style ? it?s that we?re forced to put up with many scenes that are literally about nothing.
The film starts off on a pretty good note, focusing on a witty talk between Roberto Benigni and Steven Wright. Once this scene concludes, though, we are shown a number of clips that are not amusing (and they?re hopefully not meant to be), and not much takes place within these scenarios. The one thing that is obvious is that Jarmusch loves his actors: even when his performers aren?t doing anything, he leaves the camera rolling for us to see their mannerisms.
In some clips, there isn?t even consistent dialogue, and yet we still watch the actors sit there, sometimes not even staring at each other; there are two clips in particular, one entitled ?Renee? and is agonizing to endure, and the other, ?Problems.? In ?Renee,? a woman is bothered by a waiter who recognizes her from somewhere, and she keeps brushing him off. In this clip there is so much silence (with Renee simply reading a magazine) that you?re kicking and screaming, demanding that the next clip be shown, even if that clip isn?t good.
In ?Problems,? two guys reunite and struggle to maintain a conversation. One of the guys presumes that the other has a problem to discuss, and that guy isn?t willing to dwell on that note. We wait through their silences, hoping that this social predicament arrives somewhere in destination sometime soon; when the end result arrives, we feel robbed of time, and are cheated.
Those two clips are a pretty good summary of most of the vignettes involved, as too many of the stories don?t have a point, and most of them are drop dead boring. The film triumphs in one area, and that is making you excited when the few good clips come. We have to wait a long while for the Alfred Molina clip (which is possibly the best part), and not surprisingly, the RZA/Bill Murray bit is the second to last clip in the movie (which is sort of amusing but not fulfilling). And the last scene, which should be a rousing finale to this coffee and cigarettes experiment, is slow and dull.
Having sat through this film and having understood what Jarmusch?s intent was, it is very disappointing to see such a project deliver such underwhelming results. Coffee and Cigarettes was no doubt improvised to some extent, but it seems as if the wrong outline was set for the actors to follow. In Christopher Guest?s mockumentary films, his actors follow a general outline of what notes to eventually hit, and he lets them reach those notes through whatever route they desire. Usually the actors do a very fine job of this task, and sometimes they are very funny.
With Coffee and Cigarettes, one possibility is that some of the actors aren?t sharp enough to improv smoothly on a moment?s notice (and to follow through in a sketch). But part of me doubts that possibility, as it feels like many of these actors have a presence that could ignite the screen given the right context ? they look restrained, as if they?re not allowed to do what they want.
This film experiment could have been a wall-to-wall laughter treat, but even if it wasn?t, it could?ve been a fascinating social engagement, and it fails to achieve either benchmark to any extent. There are some laughs rolled up in this show and there are some chuckles, but they are so distanced apart from one another that you walk out confused about what you just experienced.
If you?ve seen the trailer, you have a decent glimpse at the best moments, even if some of the amusements aren?t included; even so, paying $7 - 10 dollars at the ticket window for those extra moments and enduring the rest is just not worth it. Coffee and Cigarettes is a classic rental scenario ? if you watch the good segments and fast forward through everything else, you will be internally grateful that your Saturday night was not dragged down in enjoyment.
Lee's Grade: C+
Lee's Overall Grading: 3025 graded movies
| A | 0.4% | |
| B | 30.0% | |
| C | 61.7% | |
| D | 8.0% | |
| F | 0.0% |
