REVIEW: 200 CIGARETTES

HOME || FILM REVIEWS || INTERVIEWS || GALLERY || THEATER || ARCHIVE

Paul Rudd and Janeane Garofalo

directed by Rise Bramon Garcia
with Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Dave Chappelle, Guillermo Diaz, Angela Featherstone, Janeane Garofalo, Gaby Hoffman, Kate Hudson, Courtney Love, Brian McCardie, Nicole Parker, Martha Plimpton, Christina Ricci, Paul Rudd

Director Risa Bramon Garcia, a former casting director whose credits include Desperately Seeking Susan, Fatal Attraction, Flirting With Disaster, and many of Oliver Stone's films (JFK, Born on the Fourth of July, The Doors), has assembled an astonishing cast for her feature film debut. A virtual who's who of hip Hollywood upstarts and indie icons, the performers traipsing through this mildly entertaining comedy include Ben and Casey Affleck, Gaby Hoffman, Christina Ricci, Courtney Love, Paul Rudd, Martha Plimpton, and the darling Kate Hudson. As welcoming as all of them are, 200 Cigarettes has a screenplay that isn't quite on par with their talents.

Set in New York's East Village on New Year's Eve 1981, the film charts a group of ragtag individuals looking for love or a good party. The party of the evening is being thrown by Monica (Plimpton), who is anxiously waiting for her guests to arrive. Beset by anxieties, she remarks to her friend Hillary (Catherine Kellner), "All the people I hate will be here. [Throwing a party] is like an invitation to abuse." Monica's cousin Val (Ricci), meanwhile, is trotting alongside her best friend Stephie (Hoffman), a fellow Long Islander who basically believes New York City is hazardous to your health and that going past Avenue A would be akin to a suicide mission. Much to Stephie's horror, Val can't find the address of Monica's party or Monica's phone number. Fearless Val continues down Alphabet City and the two meet up with punkers Tom (Casey Affleck) and Dave (Guillermo Diaz) who may be involved in a drug deal.

Elsewhere, Bridget (Nicole Parker), having dumped Monica's former boyfriend Eric (Brian McCardie), is trying to put the moves on a good-looking bartender (Ben Affleck). She'll have to get past her own best friend Caitlyn (Angela Featherstone) to do it. Caitlyn is just as determined as Bridget not to end up dateless on New Year's Eve -- being manless at midnight dooms you to a whole year of solitude or at least a string of broken relationships. They're not the only ones making a play for his attentions. Lucy (Love) takes a liking to him though she's trying to take her friendship with Kevin (Rudd), recently ditched by a performance artist named Ellie (Janeane Garofalo), to a more romantic level. Lastly, there's Cindy (Hudson), recently devirginized by Jack (Jay Mohr). Jack is just being polite by taking her to Monica's party but when he learns he was her first lover, he becomes interested in her motivation for selecting him.

All of the characters in 200 Cigarettes are only trying to connect but love's labyrinthine nature thwarts them at every turn. People will surely connect to the ongoing theme of trying to find someone to spend this important night with. New Year's Eve tends to be a time of reflection upon all things unachieved and a renewal of hope that the next year will be more benevolent. For the characters, the goal is to end the year on a good note and begin the next with a positive. Perhaps dwindling the characters down would have contributed to a more resonant film. As it is, there are too many plotlines happening for the viewer to fully invest in any of them.

The actors come to the rescue though, ultimately, even they can't hold the film aloft. Love and Rudd don't truly click but they play on with spirit and warmth. Love, especially, manages to achieve glimmers of poignancy as Lucy and Kevin's relationship begins to evolve into something more. Ricci and Hoffman were rather irritating though it probably had to do more with their squawking Long Island accents than any deficiencies on their parts. Mohr is ineffectual, the weakest of the group, while Garofalo reigns supreme in a cameo that energizes the film. "Off! Off! Off to see my therapist," she barks at Rudd's Kevin, who has grasped her by the arm. Plimpton, too, contributes a satisfying comic portrayal and the brothers Affleck charm.

But it is Kate Hudson, Goldie Hawn's lookalike daughter, who emerges as the one to watch. Precious and delightful, she has inherited her mother's precise comic timing and combined it with a resilient sort of vulnerability. As with Desert Blue, an upcoming indie that also stars Ricci and Casey Affleck, she remains beguilingly watchable even when the film is so obviously beneath her.

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page