Review of Romance & Cigarettes (2005) by Daniel P — 03 Feb 2007

A wannabe "The Singing Detective" for the noughties, this gets props for having a stellar cast - Winslet, Gandolfini, Sarandon, not to mention the fantastic Mary Louise-Parker - but loses points for the sudden gear change in pace and story about two-thirds through, from which it never recovers (although this does at least allow for some good acting).

The film sludges through its final reel, and what is actually a failry short film conversely feels dragged out, because we haven't had enough time with all the characters (Gandolfini and Sarandon aside, the other players are mostly pushed to the background). Still worth a watch though.