Forgotten gems: 200 Cigarettes

Considering it includes Ben Affleck, Courtney Love, Christina Ricci, Kate Hudson and Paul Rudd among its stars, this film is surprisingly hard to get hold of – I’ve no idea why.  It really ought to be a cult classic, at the very least.

It’s a classic multiple-tales-told-over-one-night mish-mash.  That one night is New Year’s Eve 1981, in NYC – coincidentally the year I was born.  The individual stories are all great fun: Courtney and Paul Rudd are best friends considering shagging in a diner toilet; Christina Ricci and Gaby Hoffmann are supposed to be on their first big downtown night out but end up lost in Alphabet City; Kate Hudson has just lost her virginity and is very clumsy but cute in a pink coat; Robert Carlisle is an artist who paints ladies’ special flowers (literally) and can’t figure out why his girlfriends keep dumping him.

The thing they all have in common is that they’re all trying to make their way to Martha Plimpton’s party – and she’s the world’s most neurotic hostess with an Elvis Costello fixation.

The whole thing is hilarious and charming.  The early 80s costumes are brilliant (C-Lo’s look as Lucy – in her red dress, strappy stilettoes with ankle tattoo, and fake fur – is still one of my favourites).  Paul Rudd is at his gorgeous best.  Courtney sings Through the Eyes of Love!  Find it, whatever it takes!