Coffee and Cigarettes (1986) Critic Reviews

Just when you're certain that Jarmusch is treading water with his borderline-tedious cleverness, something happens: Coffee and Cigarettes turns into a movie FULL of talk -- rich, supple, hilarious, masterfully orchestrated talk.Read the full review

As the film goes along, themes and even lines of dialogue resurface, and Jarmusch's comic sensibilities grow more assured. Read the full review

Known for an elegant visual style, Jarmusch has a great gift for playing actors against one another, for finding complementary eccentrics (Murray and RZA) and uncovering rare gems (Bill Rice and Taylor Mead in "Champagne"). Read the full review

Jarmusch's use of yin/yang, dark/light and good/evil symbolism makes glorious if goofy sense. Read the full review

In Jarmusch's capable hands, the mundane has never been so delightful. Read the full review

Sometimes movies tire us by trying too relentlessly to pound us with their brilliance and energy. Here is a movie pitched at about the energy level of a coffee break. That the people are oddly assorted and sometimes very strange is not so very unusual, considering some of the conversations you overhear in Starbucks. Read the full review

Jarmusch makes it a feast that plays like a haunting concept album.Read the full review

At the heart of most of these encounters is talk about the nature of relationships -- cousins, twins, and peers. Mostly, though, Jarmusch displays an unexpected interest in the ironies and banalities of fame. Read the full review

The implication that beauty and meaning can be found in odd places at unlikely, idle moments resonates through this lovely film. Read the full review