Coffee and Cigarettes (2004) - User Reviews

Coffee and Cigarettes is a collection of short films with coffee and cigarettes ever-present in each one. However the cafeteria setting is also ever-present, as is the (mainly) one-on-one dialogue about trivialities.

Nothing of any real importance is discussed, just personal matters, observations and trivial chit-chat. Sometimes the conversations are amusing, but for the most part it's dull and painfully drawn out, other times it's cringingly embarrassing with characters making the sort of verbal faux pas you'd expect in a Ricky Gervais production.

1) Strange to Meet You (Roberto Benigni and Steven Wright)
Not funny, not interesting, not embarrassing, not anything.

2) Twins (Steve Buscemi, Joie Lee and Cinque Lee)
Steve Buscemi is always good value and here is amusing+interesting as he spouts his theories on evil twins and Elvis's evil twin. Twins Joie Lee and Cinque Lee are unnaturally rude and abusive to each other and the waiter, but unlike later segments this don't come off as cringingly embarrassing - a combination of very good acting on their part and the unreal atmosphere generated by the odd camera angles and Steve Buscemi's uncaring attitude (of their abuse) pulls this off perfectly.

3) Somewhere in California (Iggy Pop and Tom Waits)
Genuinely funny as these two musicians have a friendly meet, talking about their fairly ordinary lives and worries. But the conversation becomes more and more a biting one-upmanship match of words and social mores. Iggy has a naive/vulnerable personality and so is always on the backfoot, Tom Waits is unmerciful and unflustered (and gets the first barb in as soon as he sits down - 'you ordered for me?'). If only all the segments were as good as this one.

4) Those Things'll Kill Ya (Joseph Rigano, Vinny Vella, Vinny Vella Jr)
Repetitive complaint against one guy smoking. Vinny Vella Jr 's presence vary's the conversation a little with his wasabi peas. But only a little.

5) Renee (Renee French and E.J. Rodriguez)
Painfully drawn out and dull. The waiter bugs Renee to the point where you want to kill him. Apparently that's the point, but great cinema it's not.

6) No Problem (Alex Descas and Isaach De Bankole)
Fairly amusing one-joke-repeated segment. Could have been terrible in other hands but these guys delivered it note perfect.

7) Cousins (Cate Blanchett x 2)
Cringeworthy. Drawn out. Make it stop. Cate Blanchett playing herself is radiant, but that can't save it.

8) Jack Shows Meg His Tesla Coil
Incredibly dull. The Tesla Coil has more personality than the script offers the actors.

9) Cousins? (Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan)
Another segment so cringeworthy and embarrassing in the awkwardness of the corners the characters talk themselves into that you want to apologise on behalf of the film.

10) Delirium (GZA, RZA and Bill Murray)
We turned the film off at this point, couldn't stand it any more. Sadly didn't see Bill Murray, nor did we realise there was only this and one more segment to go, otherwise we would have stuck it out. Possibly only the second film in my life I have given up on, although being a series of unrelated segments it felt less of a crime this time.

11) Champagne (William Rice and Taylor Mead)
As with 10), didn't see this one.


So out of the 9.5 that I saw, I would recommend 3.5 segments - 2,3,4 (partially) and 6 - but only if you rent it and skip the rest. Not good.

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