Taglines: It’s 11:59 on New Year’s Eve. Do you know where your date is?
200 Cigarettes movie storyline. New Year’s Eve, 1981, the Lower East Side. Monica’s having a party, but as late as 9, no one’s there. She stews (and drinks). Folks are on their way, all looking for love, sex, or both.
En route, paths cross, gambits misfire: a performance artist, her boyfriend until today and his long-time pal Lucy, two Long Island high-school girls, two punk rockers, a bartender, a Scottish painter who’s lousy in bed, a pretty face named Jack who runs when women say they love him, his cute but clumsy date Cindy, two trendy vamps, a loquacious cabby, the man-crazed Hillary, and Elvis Costello. Nearly everybody smokes, and nearly everybody scores. And all get who and what they deserve.
200 Cigarettes is a 1999 American comedy film directed by Risa Bramon Garcia, and written by Shana Larsen. The film follows multiple characters in New York City on New Year’s Eve 1981. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Dave Chappelle, Guillermo Díaz, Angela Featherstone, Janeane Garofalo, Gaby Hoffmann, Kate Hudson, Courtney Love, Jay Mohr, Martha Plimpton, Christina Ricci and Paul Rudd. The film also features a cameo by Elvis Costello, as well as paintings by Sally Davies.
About the Story
The film follows various plot arcs all occurring on New Year’s Eve of 1981. Monica (Plimpton) is throwing a big New Year’s bash and is desperately afraid no one will attend. Early on the only person to have arrived is her friend Hillary (Catherine Kellner). As she tries to convince Hillary to stay, we learn about various other groupings of individuals who are all on their way.
The film follows several characters as they spend New Year’s Eve in New York City before eventually showing up at Monica’s party. The characters are: Val (Ricci) and Stephie (Hoffmann), teens from Ronkonkoma who get lost in the seedy Alphabet City section of the borough and wander into a punk club where they meet Dave (Diaz) and Tom (Casey Affleck), who have a “package” they need to deliver; ditsy and awkward Cindy (Hudson) who is on a dinner date with the paranoid Jack (Mohr); Lucy (Love) and her best friend Kevin (Rudd) who are struggling with the sexual tension between them.
Others are Kevin’s feminist ex-girlfriend Ellie (Garofalo), who walks in on Kevin and Lucy making out in a restroom stall; a dim-witted and flirtatious bartender (Ben Affleck); competitive friends Bridget (Nicole Ari Parker) and Caitlyn (Featherstone) who attempt to ditch Bridget’s boyfriend Eric (Brian McCardie) (who is also Monica’s ex-boyfriend); and the eccentric cab driver (Chappelle) who takes them all around town throughout the evening in his disco themed taxi.
200 Cigarettes (1999)
Directed by: Risa Bramon Garcia
Starring: Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Dave Chappelle, Paul Rudd, Courtney Love, Angela Featherstone, Jay Mohr, Martha Plimpton, Christina Ricci, Kate Hudson
Screenplay by: Shana Larsen
Production Design by: Ina Mayhew
Cinematography by: Frank Prinzi
Film Editing by: Lisa Zeno Churgin, Evelyn Purwins
Costume Design by: Susan Lyall
Set Decoration by: Paul Weathered
Art Direction by: Judy Rhee
Music by: Mark Mothersbaugh, Robert Mothersbaugh
MPAA Rating: R for strong language and sexual content.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: February 26, 1999
Hits: 200
