Smoke (1995)

It sucks when you have to analyse it for school, btw paul dies at the end

Not sure why this film received good reviews. The writing is amateurish, like that if a college freshman English major. Few of the characters have a unique, real voice. Almost everyone speaks like they have an Ivy-league education, despite the fact that everyone but the writer is poorly educated. A Brooklyn cigar-shop owner who quotes Shakespeare? A poor black inner city teenager from a broken family who speaks like a preppie fresh from vacation in the Hamptons? Totally unbelievable to the point it is impossible to think of these characters as anything but cardboard cutouts. The plot twists seem contrived, and are blandly predictable. This film comes off as fake and pretentious. Even talented acting can't save a terrible script.

If you like a real character movie, in which the movie is foremost all about its acting and characters, this movie is a great one to watch!It's a movie that follows multiple different story lines and characters, with each their own thing going on. They are not necessarily connected, other than through the Harvey Keitel character. And remember, this is a 1995 movie, so please don't expect an Alejandro González Iñárritu type of movie, with a frame narrative in it. It's from before that era, so it's not as slick and 'clever' with all of its different story lines and the way they are connect. It's a more slow and subtle done movie, that has a simple concept and takes a simple approach to it.And nothing wrong with that, since it does indeed work out well for the movie. It's great to see the different story lines and characters slowly progress throughout the movie and to see where it's all leading up to.It's about the little things in life really and doesn't attempt to make things bigger or more heavy than they needed to be. It does in a way let this movie feel as a feel good movie, though it's definitely still foremost done as a drama. It's a good thing that it keeps things light and humble, since this definitely improved the movie its entertainment and rewatchability value.As you would expect, the movie gets mostly carried by its actors. And it really has a fine cast in it, with people such as Harvey Keitel, William Hurt and Forest Whitaker all involved. It's always great to see fine actors act, so that alone already makes this movie worthwhile.It's definitely worth watching if this movie sounds like your kind of thing!8/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

The casting for this movie was terrible but would have been fine for a stage production. If viewed that way it's very enjoyable but a no-name cast could have made it fly. Shame on the producers for thinking it needed help. Hurt intermittently affects an inner city accent which is somewhere between south Boston and south Bronx putting it squarely in the Atlantic Ocean. Channing is not slutty enough, probably because she doesn't try to be. Keitel coasts through his role but is never really the guide his character might be. All of the characters come across as more sophisticated than what credibility demands. It is their individual stories and their interaction which should elevate them but the director has taken that step away from us - and it shouldn't have been. I still gave it a 7 because it is a good story.