Not Jarmusch's best work

Rating: 5/10 (11 January 2005)

Jim Jarmusch is the kind of director you can either love or hate. I'm sure there are people who find his films incredibly boring and pointless. I happen to enjoy most of his work. He really knows how to write characters and dialogue, and somehow make mundane situations interesting. "Stranger Than Paradise" is a prime example of that. But "Coffee and Cigarettes" doesn't quite work. It has those Jarmusch-esquire qualities that I've enjoyed in his past films, but this film just didn't click with me. I think part of the reason may be that rather than Jarmusch separating his film into one-act story lines, he separates it into tiny sketches. 6 minutes doesn't give me enough time to connect with each character. And when I see these characters I barely know stuck in these humdrum situations, it comes off as more boring than amusing. "C and C" isn't all that bad. Some of the vignettes actually work. I like the scene between Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan. The scene with Bill Murray is OK, but considering his talents, Jarmusch surely could've used him better. I felt the same way about the scene between Steven Wright and Roberto Benigni--both highly talented comedians. If you want to check out Jarmusch's work, I better suggest you see "Mystery Train," "Stranger Than Paradise," "Night on Earth" or "Ghost Dog." But as a final positive note, I did like the rendition of "Louie Louie" played over the credits.