200 Cigarettes

Everyone seems so grumpy about this film! C'mon, it's just doing what you've been wanting to do for years. Envy is so unbecoming.

Admit it. You've always meant to take all your friends, cook them down to provide enough essential oil to include each of them as a character in a vignette, toss them all into a conglomerate situation and see where they go. 200 Cigs accomplishes this goal with effortless ease. The archetypal characters can still be found wandering the East Village today.

And if you've ever spent a night bumbling around the lower east side, trying to get somewhere, but getting caught in the mire of the late night social whirlwind that simply *is* Manhattan dahlink, you'll recognize the look and feel of this film as well. It is captured with alarming verisimilitude. It's quite amazing how little things change. Except today, Stephy's fear of Ave. B would be bumped up to D.

And, okay, it bears mentioning -- the soundtrack nails down 1981 flawlessly. Buzzcocks? Kool & the Gang? Bow Wow Wow? B Movie? Go-Go's? Grace Jones? Courtney Love singing along wistfully with the Ice Castles theme? And the most brilliant band to feature, Blue Angel -- Cyndi Lauper's pre-Lauper band. The only band they missed was the B-52's.

I watched this movie on a Friday night before I went out. I was feeling tired and done with the day and would have preferred to stay home. 200 Cigs so perfectly captured the fabulousness of being out on the town, that I caught the fevah, bay-bee, put on my glitter clothes and made some splashes. I was inspired.

$$$$1/2 out of 5 in the "Money Shot" scale.