Review of Romance & Cigarettes (2005) by Jessicaann D — 18 Oct 2007

What a mess!

I was wondering why a film with so many great actors and such a promising director and producers would be stalled before release and given the TV treatment, and then I saw it.

This film is a bungled mess of trying to be a musical where people don't really sing, a drama where we don't understand anyone's characters and a comedy where nothing is actually funny. The singing would have been an interesting touch if the actors were given a chance instead of being drowned out by the original recordings. The drama could have been an interesting tale of betrayal and karma between James Gandolfini and Susan Sarandon with a fiesty Kate Winslet in the middle if the script was so self-indulgent and confused. The comedy could have been interesting with Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker and Aida Turturro as a sister band with an odd-ball dancer (Bobby Cannavalle), but instead the characters are caricatures and relics from a long-lost art film rather than being actually funny.

This film tries to be kooky and endearingly different but instead it is painful to watch and hear. The only fun comes from Kate Winslet and Christopher Walken giving it their all, if only the film was there to back them up.