Quirky

Rating: 5/10 (8 April 2005)

Always been a big fan of Jim Jamursch's work - his offbeat tales and quirky characters are always interesting - although this is a bit of a minor addition to his work - 11 self contained scenes set in a variety of coffee houses across America and concern conversations based around....coffee and cigarettes...
Quite a few just don't work and at the end of them you are left wondering just why but several are worth highlighting - There is a very funny encounter between Iggy Pop and Tom Waits who play themselves as grumpy,techy middle-aged men - when Waits suggests they move to a Taco Bell as the coffee is better Iggy huffily retorts "do I look like a Taco Bell kind of guy?" and this sets the tone for the whole encounter - lovely.... Kate Blanchett gets to play two roles - a glamorous movie star and her down to earth resentful cousin to whom she can spare 5 mins between her busy schedule - the barely concealed hostility between the two is very well played and there are several good lines as mis-understandings lead to slights covered by a politeness stretched to breaking point.
Jack and Meg from the White Striped have a very odd scene involving one of Tesla'a machines and later we meet Bill Murray as a caffeine addicted waiter hanging out with the Wu-Tang Clan but its the encounter between Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan which gets the biggest laughs - Coogan's career in the US is just taking off and assumes that Molina has a film project to talk to him about but it soon becomes apparent that Molina has a much more personal matter to discuss - the way Coogan politely(and then not so politely)rebuffs him is a hoot as is the bit towards the end when he realizes that Molina could be very useful after all...but by this time he has blown it and his clumsy attempts to get back in favour only make things worse - not normally a fan of Coogan but he is very good......its interesting that most of the "actors" play themselves as Coogan comes across as obnoxious as his characters.
Photographed in crisp black and white by people like Fred Elmes and Robby Muller it all looks great - the interiors all have a grainy feel to them that enhances the drained coffee cups and overflowing ashtrays - just a shame that so many of the other scenes wern't as good
3 Stars.