Kat's Film Reviews: Coffee and Cigarettes

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Coffee and Cigarettes

Poor misunderstood Jim Jarmusch. Actually, I doubt that's how he thinks of himself. Others might in watching his newest film. Essentially a set of scenarios (loosely) based on discussions of coffee and cigarettes involving pairings of (mostly) Hollywood odd couples, half of these scenarios make absolutely no sense and/or are completely boring for the viewer. Anyone familiar with Jarmusch just shakes their head and waits for the next bit, but for others this could be annoying enough that they will downplay the film when discussing it with others. A mistake, I would say. The scenarios that do work, namely the pairings Jack White - Meg White, Alfred Molina - Steve Coogan (my fave), Cate Blanchett -um- Cate Blanchett, and William Rice - Taylor Mead, and the ones that sorta work, namely Roberto Benigni - Steven Wright and The Wu-Tang Clan - Bill Murray, are alternately hysterical and thought-provoking. (Yeah, weird, I know.) I believe it would be wrong to dismiss this film just because a portion of the sketches don't work, especially because the film is made up of only sketches and can be evaluated on a per-scenario basis. I don't want to say too much more about it; I'd spoil its surprises. And if you feel like yawning during the Renee French bit, go right ahead. Better stuff is on its way.

year: 2003
length: 96 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379217/combined

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