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Coffee and Cigarettes
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation / United Artists


5.0

based on 35 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 26 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for language

Starring Roberto Benigni, Cate Blanchett, Steve Buscemi, Steve Coogan, Alfred Molina, Bill Murray, Iggy Pop, and Tom Waits

A comic series of short vignettes in which Jarmusch delves into the normal pace of the world from an extraordinary angle, showing just how absorbing the obsessions, joys and addictions of life can be. (MGM/UA)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Jim Jarmusch
DIRECTED BY:	Jim Jarmusch
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 21, 2004 Video: September 21, 2004 Theatrical: May 14, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	96 minutes, B/W
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Portland Oregonian Karen Karbo

Like dark chocolate -- not semi-sweet, but the exotic, nearly black stuff -- Coffee and Cigarettes won't appeal to everyone. Jarmusch is the 70 percent cacao of contemporary filmmakers, and people who love this kind of chocolate swear by it.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Just when you're certain that Jarmusch is treading water with his borderline-tedious cleverness, something happens: Coffee and Cigarettes turns into a movie FULL of talk -- rich, supple, hilarious, masterfully orchestrated talk.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

By the end the movie has pretty much ceased taking itself at all seriously, devolving into a nonchalant giggliness of the stoned variety that's completely apropos.

Time Richard Schickel

It feels as if it has been recovered from a time capsule, and what larger meaning it may have is anyone's guess. But it is way cool -- and funny -- in ways that more expensive comedies trying harder rarely are.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

As the film goes along, themes and even lines of dialogue resurface, and Jarmusch's comic sensibilities grow more assured.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

Known for an elegant visual style, Jarmusch has a great gift for playing actors against one another, for finding complementary eccentrics (Murray and RZA) and uncovering rare gems (Bill Rice and Taylor Mead in "Champagne").

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

In Jarmusch's capable hands, the mundane has never been so delightful.

LA Weekly John Powers

It's worth fidgeting through the mediocre stuff to get to three good pieces. In one, Cate Blanchett turns in a tour de force as both herself and her aggressive, resentful Aussie cousin in an awkward encounter that captures the pathological relationship between ordinary people and celebrities.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Jarmusch's use of yin/yang, dark/light and good/evil symbolism makes glorious if goofy sense.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

It's a movie about discomfort and distance, like an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" or "The Larry Sanders Show" shot in deadpan black-and-white.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Odd but engaging film.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

At the heart of most of these encounters is talk about the nature of relationships -- cousins, twins, and peers. Mostly, though, Jarmusch displays an unexpected interest in the ironies and banalities of fame.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Sometimes movies tire us by trying too relentlessly to pound us with their brilliance and energy. Here is a movie pitched at about the energy level of a coffee break. That the people are oddly assorted and sometimes very strange is not so very unusual, considering some of the conversations you overhear in Starbucks.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Sometimes sly and witty, sometimes dull and forced, Coffee and Cigarettes is Jim Jarmusch's testimony to the difficulties and delights of communication.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Jarmusch makes it a feast that plays like a haunting concept album.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

A series of vignettes...Some are weak, some are superb -- there's a priceless one with Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan as Brits with different feelings about learning they're cousins -- but they get better as they go along.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Indie hipster Jarmusch's distinctive brand of effortless cool and quirky humor percolate through each of 11 vignettes, all shot fairly statically in crisp, aesthetically pleasing black and white.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

What unites everything is Jarmusch’s playful, hang-dog absurdism.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The implication that beauty and meaning can be found in odd places at unlikely, idle moments resonates through this lovely film.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Like "Mystery Train" and "Night on Earth," this feature by Jim Jarmusch is a short story collection, but it's funnier and more formally adventurous than either--also ultimately greater than the sum of its parts.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Although these vignettes are unified visually -- they're all in black-and-white and they all have the same gorgeous, silky visual texture -- they were shot by several different cinematographers.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Many will be left scratching their heads at the point of the entire enterprise, but fans of Jarmusch's askew view will clink coffee mugs and toast to the glories of human eccentricity.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Very slight and, in the early going, slightly annoying, Coffee and Cigarettes is a long-borning Jarmusch project.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

The draggy ones make you restless while the best ones, like the movie's title ingredients, provide a buzz that doesn't last long enough.

Empire Ian Freer

Steve Coogan and Alfred Molina deliver a terrific meditation on insincere actors.

Variety Deborah Young

Holding the film together are simple but strong B&W visuals of offbeat types sitting around a table smoking and drinking java while they talk.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

C&C hardly coalesces, but then again, it doesn't try to--never more or less than what it appears to be, the film is a slow honky-tonk thud-beat, only intermittently punctuated by a joke or idea.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The lone gem of the anthology takes place in the loft of a trendy L.A. restaurant where a snooty Steve Coogan learns from starstruck Alfred Molina that the actors are cousins...This is the longest of the shorts, and has a payoff ending that nearly makes the whole thing worthwhile.

Slate David Edelstein

Despite glimmers of wit and a hipper-than-thou cast, it's painstakingly smug, and smaller than the sum of its parts.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

While sometimes evocative, they don't add up to a satisfying movie any more than, as several characters are cautioned, coffee and cigarettes constitute a healthy lunch.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

The best way to watch this film is while sipping coffee in a café. Nicotine optional.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Serves up a weak brew.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

The skits that comprise Coffee and Cigarettes aren't fully realized short pieces as much as riffs or fragments; their appeal is mostly in their stars.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Too slight and pointless.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Flat and uninspired.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 26 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Peter H gave it a7:
A mildly entertaining story with several entertaining shorts. Several gems in the collection are Cate Blanchett's short and Steve Coogan and Alfred Molina's short.

Kenny M. gave it a1:
This movie has no story and no point whatsoever. I was only able to suffer through it because some of the very talented actors gave great performances and somehow breathed a little life into Jim Jarmusch's obscure, dry, hipper-than-now writing. The coogan/molina, and bill murray/gza/rza skits are mildly entertaining and a little funny, but the rest of the movie is boring and trite.

Mr. Holland gave it a10:
Some people are crazy. it's a beautiful film.

kjynn j. gave it a1:
Judging by this film, I expect Jarmusch's next masterpiece will be called Snot, and will feature his buddies, vying to outdo each other in hipness as they sneeze and deal with their nasal secretions. I can't wait.

James W. gave it a4:
Boring.

Vlad A. gave it an8:
Bob E., I liked the movie a lot but you're eating ish when you tell people to "examine" the critic's ratings. Those are there to guide people towards potentially more rewarding movies. Critics aren't gods we should pray to and agree with on every occasion. And by the way, 64 is good, but not excellent.

Marc K. gave it a2:
Quite possibly the worst movie I have seen in 2004...I'm only glad that I saw it on DVD rather than the movies, where I spent less money and could at least "break" from watching this horrorshow. I understand that Jarmusch is an acquired taste, and I obviously don't have that tastebud. Had some OK vignettes (Molina/Coogan was the best), but others were absolutely excruciating to sit through.

Coffee and Cigarettes Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation / United Artists

Coffee and Cigarettes
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation / United Artists