Rating: 
 

The Info

Directed by: Risa Bramon Garcia
Written by: Shana Larsen
Starring: Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, David Chappelle, Guillermo Diaz, Angela Featherstone, Janeane Garofalo, Gaby Hoffman, Kate Hudson, Courtney Love, Brian McCardie, Jay Mohr, Nicole Parker, Martha Plimpton, Christina Ricci, Paul Rudd
Produced by: Betsy Beers, David Gale, Van Toffler
 

The Nutshell

A bunch of twenty-somethings make their way to a New Year's party on Dec. 31st, 1981.

The Review

    200 Cigarettes is a sad kind of movie. It is a homage to a veteran filmmaker by a new filmmaker, where the new filmmaker has not come up with a style of their own yet. A good, recent example would be Swingers, by Doug Liman. His first film, yet he was quoted during the time of its release as stating that "it is a kind of homage to Quentin Tarantino." (who of course has less than five films under his belt). Doug's first movie (excuse the pun) is a homage. Why not just say that you are content to use someone else's style and get it over with?

    In this case, the filmmaker being honoured is Robert Altman, whether it is intentional or not. In 50 years, when film students look back at the career of Altman, they will agree that his lasting legacy will have been the introduction of the true "ensemble" film. Altman is famous for films like Short Cuts, which has a good 20+ main characters. The beauty of Altman's films is that he manages to burn each character into our memories, giving each one a crucial part in a very complex plotline. 200 Cigarettes is an attempt to use this technique, without much success. This is the first directing effort by Risa Bramon Garcia, a former casting director (which probably explains the impressive cast). It's also the first film written by Shana Larsen. Obviously these two loved Altman's work in film school and thought they could use his style for their own rookie effort.

    Cigs is the story of  a large group of twenty-somethings and almost-twenty-somethings who are all experiencing various crises while eventually heading to the same party, New Year's Eve night 1981. As in Short Cuts, while every character at first is seen with one or two other characters at the most, we slowly discover that they all have connections to the other characters in some way. Another similarity is the presence of something to tie every character together in the end (the party).

    The characters range from annoying to very interesting, with Christina Ricci putting in a surprisingly annoying performance as Val, the teenaged cousin of Monica (Plimpton), who is throwing the party. Ricci takes on a brutal Jersey accent that grates on your nerves. Ben Affleck is boring as the nameless bartender, while brother Casey manages to put a bit of life into his Tom, a leather jacket wearing punk. The two best performances for me come from Kate Hudson, whose Cindy is an indecisive, nervous wreck who has to manage to find a backbone by the end of the film, and David Chappelle as the "disco cabbie", who brings a slick, fresh hilarity to every scene he is in, as he shuttles various characters around town while getting slowly more and more inebriated and stoned. The rest of the cast (Plimpton, Courtney Love etc.) largely just do the character they do in every film they appear in, not bringing much to the film.

    The various plotlines are a mixed bag as well. Courtney Love's Lucy and Paul Rudd's Kevin argue about relationships and sex from start to finish, and the mystery of whether they will eventually sleep with each other is irrelevant by the end because you just don't care. Jay Mohr's Jack brings an interesting plotline to the film as women can't help but fall ine love with him every day... he is cursed with it as one by one several cast members say they love him, much to his horror. The rest of the plots fall somewhere in between.

    The film has a hip, 80s soundtrack offering a great selection of forgotten hits, and the appearance of Elvis Costello as himself adds a nice touch. And perhaps the only thing that 200 Cigarettes shares ably with Short Cuts is a great ending. The final party blowout and subsequent recap by the disco cabbie offer up the film's biggest laughs and close it on a high note, saving it from becoming a total waste of time.

Copyright - Tim Chandler

Press "back" to return to the previous page, or click on a link:

Adventures in Cinema front page        The O.F.C.S.       Max'd On Movies