|
Advertisement |
Overall Rating
  Awesome: 10.89%
Worth A Look: 21.78%
Average: 27.72%
Pretty Bad: 16.83%
Total Crap: 22.77%
8 reviews, 53 user ratings
|
|
| 200 Cigarettes |
by Ryan Arthur
"How do ya like your eggs in the morning, scrambled or fertilized?"
|
Nifty cast...not much else.A bunch of people (and their stories) are loosely tied together in 200 Cigarettes, a title which symbolizes a gift from the character Lucy (Courtney Love) to Kevin (Paul Rudd) as well as the kinda iffy metaphor of using cigarettes as a buffer between people. It all takes place on New Year's Eve '81, as the cast is making it's way to a party being thrown by Monica (Martha Plimpton).
No one actually shows up at the party until far later, but here's who's supposed to be there:
Kevin and Lucy. They're friends who may become more than that. Kevin's been dumped by Ellie (Janeane Garafalo) and is mopey. Lucy just wants to go out and have fun. She hits on the bartender (Ben Affleck) at a club, and invites him to the party. The bartender eventually makes plans to double date with Caitlyn and Bridget (Nicole Parker and Angela Featherstone). Bridget has just dumped Eric (Brian McCardie), who just happens to be Monica's ex. Monica plans on pawning Eric off to her friend Hillary (Catherine Kellner). Monica's cousin Val (Christina Ricci) is coming, as is Val's friend Stephie (Gaby Hoffman). They're being tailed by a couple of street punks (Casey Affleck and Guillermo Diaz). Jack (Jay Mohr) will be there, and he's planning on bringing Cindy (Kate Hudson). Nevermind that they just met the night before. There's also the Disco Cabbie (Dave Chappelle) and Elvis Costello. Monica, of course, will just be happy if anyone shows up.
So here you have a humungous ensemble cast, all fairly talented, so it should be a pretty good flick, right?
Nope.
Each character (or set of characters) is loosely tied to the party, but not necessarily to each other. There's not enough of a plot to draw us in to each individual story. We're drawn to certain characters, and we're disillusioned with others. It's a mess. It's funny fairly frequently, but it's still a mess.
Among the winners here: the Afflecks. Ben has that charm that you just can't help but like, and gets the best line. He also gets an obvious laugh or two with a few failed Tom Cruise/Cocktail type moves behind the bar. Casey does fine as well in a small role (larger than his brothers, however). I hope he'll get some larger parts in the future. I liked the Kevin/Lucy characters as well. I've always liked Paul Rudd (even though his hair here is horrid), and I enjoyed Love's performance in People Vs. Larry Flynt. I think, even with those being the only two roles we've seen her in, she's fast becoming a legitimate actress. Plimpton's hilarious. But Kate Hudson (she's Goldie Hawn's daughter, and you can see it in her smile) steals it for me. Part sweet innocent, part flaky klutz, her role is probably the best of the bunch, and it's a nice screen debut for her.
The losers: Garafolo. It's a more adult role for her, but it's so out of place. Tortured artsy type? Uh-uh. I hated her the first scene she's in. She's better in the cab scene, but still wrong for the part. Kellner isn't given enough to do, and neither are Featherstone and Parker. And Ricci and Hoffman?
Dear Lord in Heaven.
So they've got the Lawn Guyland accents down. Which gets old. Fast. Hoffman shows no range. Ricci's better (although the audience I was in was more interested that she's *thisclose* to spilling out of her top), but still annoying.
In the end, there are a lot of funny moments and some great dialogue, but none of it adds up to a satisfying whole.The parts are there, they just don't fit.
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=1488&reviewer=7
originally posted: 03/03/99 04:15:11
![[printer]](/images/icon/printer.gif) printer-friendly format
|
 |
USA
26-Feb-1999 (R)
UK
N/A
Australia
02-Jul-1999 (M)
|
|
Articles 
subscribe to this feed![[AllPosters.com]](/images/icon/ap.gif){kind=icon}
