Locations/Showings
Featuring Mainstream &
Art House Choices

Forum
Scary Movie 3 was neither scary nor a movie. Discuss this & more.

Reviews
Glorifications & Executions of the latest Movies, DVDs, and television shows.

Flashback Flicks
Krull and other "Lost" Classics get their day in the sun.

Crapmasterpieces
So darn crappy they're hilariously brilliant.

TV Highlights
Boob Tube Playtime!

Calendar
A movie/tv related calendar. Covers openings, DVD release dates, conventions etc.

Coffee & Cigarettes
Congrats! You've Received Our Worst Review Ever!

Starring: Roberto Benigni, Cate Blanchett, Steve Buscemi, Steve Coogan, Alfred Molina, Bill Murray, Iggy Pop, The RZA, Jack White, Meg White
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Screenwriter: Jim Jarmusch

Reviewed by P. Joshua Laskey

Coffee & Cigarettes seems a film-school project turned horribly wrong.

In a series of vignettes, director Jim Jarmusch tells no contiguous or even interrelated story and has his actors “act” so subtly that sometimes it seems the script has completely slipped their minds. There is not hook, no draw, no drama, and no reason to stay in your seat. By the time Cate Blanchett plays both roles in her vignette “Cousins”, most of the audience will have probably fallen asleep or left and therefore missed the most interesting interactions. What is so strange is that it is a single actress who creates the most compelling dialog. Other vignettes include clever twists at the end or even some simulacrum of dramatic conflict, but mostly they fail to intrigue let alone interest. Famous faces grace the black-and-white cells, so for starwatching, Coffee & Cigarettes cannot easily be beat.

With checkered patterns in every scene, the throughlines seem affected and tacky instead of linking. Everyone drinks coffee, and there are cigarettes present, discussed, or lit in each vignette. Jarmusch seems fascinated by the idea of conversation had over coffee and cigarettes, but he fails to realize interesting conversation is the reason to watch and listen. Some of the characters (who are all played by a real person of the same name) even find the conversation tedious, pointless, and tiresome. That is a striking red flag for any filmmaker.

The only redemption in the piece was the work of some of the actors. Because Jarmusch was able to persuade big names to participate in his experiment, he got skilled artists performing his lackluster words. Cate Blanchett and Alfred Molina (who do not appear onscreen together) are interesting and make their vignettes tolerable. That is to take nothing away from their acting, but great actors can hardly save a dreary script.

Overall, this film was not even worthy as a stab at something interesting. If I could take away stars from Jarmusch’s next attempt so that he started in the whole I would. Coffee & Cigarettes was that punishing to the audience in its pretension and effrontery. If ever there were a pact with the audience violated by a director, Coffee and Cigarettes would be violator extraordinaire.

Want to discuss this, and other topics, with fellow fans?
Post your thoughts in the SJ Fanboy Forum now!