35
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
positive
3(12%)
mixed
14(54%)
negative
9(35%)
Showing 26 Critic Reviews
75
200 Cigarettes doesn't have a bad scene or a false note. The picture is a succession of pointed little moments, nicely written by Shana Larsen and acted with comic assurance and sensitivity.
70
A light comedy, pure and simple (and hardly unfamiliar), but its makers sustain its energy through the unraveling of an intricate plot and bring to it a certain edge through a witty, sharp sense of observation.
63
Very much a looking-back movie; its most obvious model is "American Graffiti." But if you know that particular slice of early '80s Manhattan, you may be as amused as I was. [26 Feb 1999]
60
It's sweet, tart, brightly colored, insubstantial, and utterly lacking in nutritional value. It's also fun to consume, and harmless enough as long as it isn't your whole diet.
60
Gathers a partyful of young players and barely gives them enough of a story line to puff on, but it gets by on personality anyhow.
60
This film may never attain a critical mass of satiric understanding about its milieu or time, but at least its individual moments provide plenty of harmless laughter.
By Steven Mikulan
FULL REVIEW 50
While the film comes to a mildly clever conclusion, it feels like a bottle of vintage champagne that never gets to pop its cork at midnight. All that fizz potential wasted. [26 Feb 1999]
50
A tepid affair, distinguished by bland character development, uninspired and insipid dialogue, and a nonexistent plot.
50
Nothing much happens, and that's the point, but all this wheel spinning could have used more grease.
50
But there's no sign of the writerly derring-do that is really essential to daisy-chain storytelling. 200 Cigarettes burns itself out well before midnight.
