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Martha Plimpton, Brian McCardie and Catherine
Kellner
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The clothes look brand-new: a vintage shop full of dog collars, tiger-print shirts and black leather pants. Its retro soundtrack mixes the well-known (The Go-Gos' "Our Lips Are Sealed") and the obscure (The Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen In Love") into a fizzy, musical cocktail. And the graffiti-sprayed walls and sweaty punk club dance floors of its East Village locale completes the you-are-back-in-1981 setting for Risa Bramon Garcia's nostalgia comedy 200 Cigarettes.
If looks were everything -- and 200 Cigarettes gets its '80s-throwback style down pat, even down to a video of Brit new wavers Bow Wow Wow playing on a bar TV -- then 200 Cigarettes would be the type of retro success that boosts '80s nostalgia the way George Lucas' 1973 ensemble-comedy American Graffiti rejuvenated interest in 1950s Americana. But take away its slick costumes and New Wave soundtrack and 200 Cigarettes is the most threadbare of all of Hollywood's recent '80s throwbacks. More pop culture quiz show than movie comedy, Garcia's 200 Cigarettes fails to string any of its ensemble stories into a coherent, entertaining whole. It's a slick disappointment.
Not that 200 Cigarettes (from a story by first-time screenwriter Shana Larsen) doesn't have plenty of comedy potential. It's dramatic hook is clever enough: A group of lovelorn New Yorkers make their way to the same East Village New Year's Eve party. They're desperate not to ring in 1982 alone. Of course, the film's laughs result from the romantic hijinks experienced by the assorted players on their way to the party.
200 Cigarettes offers some small pleasure simply by watching its hip '90s cast play dress-up and flash back to 1980s Manhattan. Comedian Dave Chappelle (You've Got Mail and The Nutty Professor) is a hip-hop Checker cab driver and wannabe ladies man. Jay Mohr (Jerry Maguire and Playing by Heart) is a smarmy guy named Jack, desperate to discover more about his inexperienced one-night-stand (Kate Hudson). Ben Affleck keeps his Good Will Hunting looks intact, playing a hunkish bartender. Christina Ricci (Pecker and The Opposite of Sex) and Gaby Hoffmann (Sleepless in Seattle) are two Long Island teens who meet up with a couple of downtown punks (Casey Affleck and Guillermo Diaz). But it's Rock-diva Courtney Love who grabs more than her fair share of the 200 Cigarettes spotlight as the man-hunting Lucy, who tries to boost the spirits of her friend Kevin (Paul Rudd sporting funky sideburns) after he's been dumped by his performance-artist girlfriend (Janeane Garofalo).
With her curly hair and rouge-smeared lips, Love struts plenty of onscreen attitude and Pop-star presence throughout the film. Unfortunately, that's all she has to offer. Granted, Love's clichéd character, the admiring best friend, offers little opportunity for genuine acting. But even when the opportunities for some smart comic relief pop up -- especially a clumsy sex scene in the bathroom stall of an East Village coffee shop -- all Love can muster is a dumbfounded look while standing in her underwear.
She's acted well before (The People vs. Larry Flynt), although the question that Love's portrayal of the doomed Althea Flynt was just a natural extension of her own quirky personality remains unanswered. Love is watchable on screen. There is no denying her unique star power. But watching her will-they-or-won't-they-sleep-together shenanigans with Rudd is more foolish than funny.
"Kevin," Lucy screams with high-decibel hysterics, "I dare you to fuck me!"
Still, the biggest surprise out of 200 Cigarettes' many bad surprises is the fact that Love comes off looking like Michelle Pfeiffer compared to Ricci's white-trash stereotype of Val, a Long Island diva with a fake ID. Ricci -- and this is something I'd thought I'd never say about a Ricci performance -- is annoying. Endlessly screeching with a nasally accent that's more aggravating than comical, Ricci, teamed with Hoffman in a twisted duel of bad accents, punches a hole in 200 Cigarette's threadbare storytelling. After an impressive streak of independent-minded performances in films such as Buffalo '66, Pecker and The Opposite of Sex, it's disappointing to see Ricci's winning streak come to such a fast demise with the witless 200 Cigarettes. Her attempt at an extreme characterization fails miserably. Whenever Val appears, 200 Cigarette's comedy deflates quickly.
Only Martha Plimpton gets the comic zeitgeist of 200 Cigarettes' 1981 setting down right. As Monica, the film's angst-ridden party thrower, Plimpton is the spiritual center of Garcia's uneven film. Hers is a familiar worry: What if nobody shows up to my party? Even Monica's best friend (Catherine Kellner) soon bails over the prospect of a dull evening. Still, 200 Cigarette's best moments come when Monica and her only party guest -- an ex-boyfriend named Eric (Brian McCardie) -- turn their two-person happening into a session of sexual self-loathing. Pacing the floor in her green party gown and fishnet gloves, Monica yells at the TV, while a garbled image of Ali MacGraw appears during a showing of Love Story.
"People are walking the streets like zombies because it's not cool to be prompt," Martha complains bitterly. If only the rest of 200 Cigarette's ensemble could have matched Plimpton's spunk.
Somewhere inside all the twinkling Christmas lights, tucked beside the bowl of crab dip and the overflowing ashtray is a film filled with interesting themes. There is something compelling about 200 Cigarettes' romantic disaster premise. Placed in the context of early '80s artistic self-expression and pre-AIDS promiscuity, it's a cinematic puzzle that Garcia wasn't able to make a movie that's more than colorful eye candy.
Watching the film's trippy opening credits, it's evident that Garcia is one of Hollywood's more esteemed casting directors. She worked on True Romance and Oliver Stone films such as Wall Street, The Doors and JFK. Her knack for pulling together an eclectic cast is evident here. 200 Cigarettes can claim an amazing array of young talent.
The film is a Who's Who of young Hollywood, and it's evident that only veteran filmmaker Robert Altman seems capable of assembling a better cast. But there is a danger in trying to build a credible Altman-like ensemble-drama. 200 Cigarettes trips over its juggling subplots. It fails to tie everything together into a worthy conclusion. Most of its characters lose their interest. After tossing aside its best shot at a comic surprise -- the gathering of all the characters at the climactic party -- 200 Cigarettes wastes the opportunity by switching its story for a series of Polaroid snapshots.
Of all the recent '80s nostalgia comedies (The Wedding Singer, Grosse Pointe Blank and Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion) 200 Cigarettes is the most disappointing. Never has so much attention to detail been for naught. 200 Cigarettes is a film that's all dressed up and goes nowhere. (Rated R.)
CityBeat grade: D.
