Critics reviews

It is done in the best tradition of sketch comedy but with an actorly emphasis.

The film is certainly less ambitious than Dead Man or Ghost Dog, though it's by no means less personal. The main themes are the ethics of celebrity, the tensions and irritations that can arise between close friends and family members, and two Jarmusch standbys, shyness and loneliness. These themes and the recurring formal elements... give Coffee and Cigarettes an overall artistic coherence that's far from common in current movies.

Not since Victorian women had to sneak their smokes have cigarettes been so freighted with rebel potential.

Historically, you could do worse than think of Jim Jarmusch as the Dylan among America's current generation of spitballing-structuralist indie auteurs.