200 Cigarettes (1999)

A collection of twentysomethings try to cope with relationships, loneliness, desire and their individual neuroses.

Director:

Risa Bramon Garcia

Writer:

Shana Larsen

Stars:

Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Dave Chappelle

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Affleck	...	Bartender
Casey Affleck	...	Tom
Jennifer Albano	...	Cheryl
Jenni Blong	...	Cheryl's Friend (as Jenny Blong)
Morgan Brown	...	French Rocker
Caleb Carr	...	Cynical Bar Patron
Dave Chappelle	...	Disco Cabbie
Elvis Costello	...	Elvis Costello
Guillermo Díaz	...	Dave (as Guillermo Diaz)
Angela Featherstone	...	Caitlyn
Patrick Frederic	...	Tiki Sobbing Man
Janeane Garofalo	...	Ellie
Gaby Hoffmann	...	Stephie
Kate Hudson	...	Cindy
David Johansen	...	Tiki Bartender

Storyline

New Year's Eve, 1981, the Lower East Side. Monica's having a party, but as late as 9, no one's there. She stews (and drinks). Folks are on their way, all looking for love, sex, or both. En route, paths cross, gambits misfire: a performance artist, her boyfriend until today and his long-time pal Lucy, two Long Island high-school girls, two punk rockers, a bartender, a Scottish painter who's lousy in bed, a pretty face named Jack who runs when women say they love him, his cute but clumsy date Cindy, two trendy vamps, a loquacious cabby, the man-crazed Hillary, and Elvis Costello. Nearly everybody smokes, and nearly everybody scores. And all get who and what they deserve.

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Plot Keywords:

party | new year's eve | friend | punk | bartender | 

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Taglines:

It's 11:59 on New Year's Eve. Do you know where your date is?

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language and sexual content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 February 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Islander

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$3,244,277 (USA) (26 February 1999)

Gross:

$6,851,636 (USA) (7 May 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dogstar Films, Lakeshore Entertainment, MTV Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During filming Casey Affleck mentioned to Kate Hudson that 'Romeo and Juliet' by Dire Straits was one of his favorite love songs. Hudson secretly convinced the director to play the song during Affleck and Hudson's characters final scene together as a surprise for him. Casey Affleck didn't find out until he watched the movie at the premiere.

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Goofs

While the two girls from Lake Ronkonkoma say they need to catch the last train, and the trains run 24/7, they are using that as an exit line.

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Quotes

Bartender: So, how do you like your eggs done in the morning, scrambled or fertilized?

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Crazy Credits

At the end of credits Disco Cabie can be heard saying, "If you only remember one thing I've said, remember this; James Brown is the baddest motherf@cker in show business."

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Connections

Features Love Story (1970)

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Soundtracks

"Ready to Take a Chance Again"
By Charles Fox & Norman Gimbel
Performed by Barry Manilow
Courtesy of Arista Records, Inc.

User Reviews

A film about self discovery on New Years Ever

200 Cigarettes is described as an episodic film. It follows around a number of people on New Years Eve of 1981 and climaxes at one huge party. These people seem to miss each other, yet also go through their own problems to try and understand themselves and their part in life. Some of them realise the truth about themselves, while others of them simply continue to go on as they were. To really understand the movie we have to look at the characters, some of them individually, while others together. The first two are a couple of friends, yet in a way a lot more. The movie opens with them in the "disco cab" (more on this later) and the cynic is simply whining about how his girlfriend left him and that New Years Eve always sucks because it is also his birthday and as such the expectation is doubly high. These two form a major focus of the relationship aspect of the film as they both try to understand what the whole purpose of it is. One simply feels that he cannot hold down a girlfriend because he changes for her only to have her turn against him. The other simply does not care and will sleep with any man she can. It is then that her eyes are opened in a sexual encounter with the guy in a toilet cubicle. She realises that the way she treats sex is really meaningless and that making it a cheap thrill destroys the whole purpose of it. He, on the other hand, has realised that the one girl that is good for him is the girl that knows him. The problem he faces is that the girls he dates really don't know him that well, and as such they end up leaving him after they decide they do not like him. On the other hand, she has been a friend of his for a while and they can both say that they know each other. As such it is inevitable that they end up together. The next couple are a couple of girls who simply want to get laid and end up fighting other the guys that they are with. They dump Eric, the Irish artist, because they decide that he is no good in bed. They then travel the city trying to find dates for the night, but cannot. The only time they find somebody is a single bartender, who they ditch because he is a yuppie. It is when they are told that they way they are behaving will destroy their friendship. To them, having dates should not be important but rather they should focus on their friendship. They end up getting dates, but remain secretive about it because they realise that to do otherwise will undermine their friendship. Eric is a rather pitiable guy as he also can never seem to hold down a girlfriend, but this time it is because he is no good in bed. He is one of the first at Monica's house, the place where they are having the party, and tries to come to terms with what he learns from Monica. His realisation at the end of the movie is that he is bad in bed, and there is really little that he can do about it. Monica is frantic because she is organising a New Years Eve party, even though she hates parties, and finds that nobody turns up. When Eric does, they talk and try to come to terms with their inadequacies, but when her friend arrives, she takes Eric away leaving Monica alone again. Monica is simply very tense and this tenseness means that she drinks so much that she passes out and ends up missing out on the party that she so really wanted to experience. Jack is an interesting character because he believes that he is curse. It appears to be a sweet individual and the girl that he is out with lost her virginity to him the night before. At first it seems that these two are the perfect couple, but this is soon destroyed when we learn that Jack has more than one girlfriend. So we discover that Jack is simply a sleaze who does not want girls attached to him. After his current girlfriend admits that she loves him, he tells her that he is cursed because he simply cannot stop girls from falling in love with him. To this she retorts that he really doesn't understand his fortune for there are many people who spend their entire lives looking for a woman to fall in love with them while Jack simply takes it for granted. He does not grow, for in the end he is still annoyed when Rita throws herself upon him proclaiming her undying love for him. What we know that he doesn't, is that Rita is actually quite fickle. This is the essence of the movie: relationships and the failure to relate to people. This is basically what everybody struggles with in the movie, and by the end some have overcome their struggles, while others are still simply blind to their problems. Jack and Dave are the two that are blind to their faults while Eric is left a broken man when the truth of his sexual inadequacy hits home. He is left with a problem that is simply not as easily solved as the rest. I guess the reason here is that relationships cannot be based on sex, and Eric uses sex as a crutch to support his inadequacy in relating to people, while Jack simply refuses to form a deep relationship and Dave is oblivious to everything. The Cynic throws away his cigarettes symbolising his realisation that he no longer needs a crutch to relate to anybody, while Eric, Dave, and Jack are left with their crutches and are not able to let go of them.