200 Cigarettes [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

As you might have guessed, 200 Cigarettes doesn't boast the most tautly woven plot (or even much of a loosely woven one). What it does have, however, is a wry charm and an engaging sense of deadpan authenticity (using enough period detail, incidentally, to put the likes of The Wedding Singer to shame). These kids not only dig Blondie and Elvis Costello, they've got the fluorescent mittens and monkey boots to prove it. But it's not just by-the-numbers early-80s nostalgia which holds the film together in the face of its vaguely shambolic structure: if the transparently not platonic shenanigans of Love and Rudd wear thin, then Kate Hudson's neurotic party girl and Ben Affleck's secretly oafish bartender ("How do you like your eggs done in the morning? Scrambled or fertilised?") are more than adequate compensation. And, amid a slew of great ensemble performances, the two minutes of cross-wired interplay between the magisterially sour Janeane Garafolo and professionally laid-back cab driver Dave Chapelle is pretty much worth your time in and of itself. --Danny Leigh