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Coffee and Cigarettes
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation / United Artists
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.
91
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.
88
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.
80
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.
80
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.
80
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").
80
The Hollywood Reporter
Michael Rechtshaffen
In Jarmusch's capable hands, the mundane has never been so delightful.
80
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.
80
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
Jarmusch's use of yin/yang, dark/light and good/evil symbolism makes glorious if goofy sense.
80
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.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Odd but engaging film.
75
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.
75
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.
75
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.
75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Jarmusch makes it a feast that plays like a haunting concept album.
75
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.
75
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.
70
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
What unites everything is Jarmusch’s playful, hang-dog absurdism.
70
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.
70
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.
70
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.
67
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.
63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Very slight and, in the early going, slightly annoying, Coffee and Cigarettes is a long-borning Jarmusch project.
63
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.
60
Empire
Ian Freer
Steve Coogan and Alfred Molina deliver a terrific meditation on insincere actors.
60
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.
60
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.
50
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.
50
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.
50
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.
50
The New Republic
Stanley Kauffmann
The best way to watch this film is while sipping coffee in a café. Nicotine optional.
50
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Serves up a weak brew.
50
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.
38
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Too slight and pointless.
25
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
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