Review of Coffee and Cigarettes

...and what's as fascinating and cool as it is a little disappointing is that the laughs are more of amusement than of the laugh-out-loud sort. While there isn't a whole lot to Wright and Benigni's conversation, what is great about the vignette is how the two find a rhythm, play off each other as though they were the pros of Who's Line Is It Anyway, and it works. The choice and progression of shots is also well timed by Jarmusch with interesting bits of composition via filmmaker Tom DiCillo. The letdown is that the laughs aren't as great as they could've been. Of course Wright is one of the most under-stated of all comics, and Benigni is notorious for being off-the-wall even in his serious movies, though maybe for me something was missing, that a certain bit of un-ease was with them. However, this doesn't stop the short from being a nice little marker on the careers of Benigni, Wright, and Jarmusch, and it's a very good kick-off in the full-length version of the director's latest brew.