Chinese Coffee
Harry (played by Al Pacino, who also directs) and Jake (Law and Order's Jerry Orbach) are two aging Greenwich village bohemians who are almost out of chances to make it big. When Harry arrives at Jake's in the middle of the night, broke, dissheveled, and excited to have finished his novel, he does not receive the welcome he expects from his best friend. Jake feels that Harry's new novel exploits Jake's life, exposing his failures for all to see. This character-driven drama, the third film as a director for Al Pacino, was adapted from a stage play.
Member Reviews
Overacted And Overwritten - CharleyJames
Originally a wonderful play, the film raises some interesting questions about how long an "artist" should pursue success until throwing in the towel, and how available the experiences and secrets of friends should be to a writer. But the entire exercise is overacted, overwritten and overly elaborated for what it is, wearing out its welcome even before it approaches the heart of the matter.
Fired from his job as a doorman, Harry (Pacino) heads down to Greenwich Village to visit his friend, Jake (Orbach). Peeved to learn that Jake hasn't yet read his new book, Harry quickly reveals himself to be neurotic, pushy and argumentative about everything, while Jake is the picture of calm acceptance, even though he, too, is essentially jobless, having abandoned 30 years of steady nightclub photography to pursue theatrical work, with little success.
Unfortunately, the artistic availability and application of friendship is just about all Chinese Coffee offers, and the subject is built up to and danced around as much as it's actually discussed. Hardly any other aspects of the two main characters are discussed in the course of more than 90 minutes, leaving the men very thinly developed for all the dialogue they dispense.
The central issue, of a meter running out on creative aspirations, is interesting to anyone remotely connected to the arts, and the dialogue has a bite at times. But it's all belabored and doesn’t add up to a properly fleshed-out picture.
Pacino and Orbach are two terrific actors who have clearly weighed every last wrinkle of their characters and the nuances of every line. Yet with incessant closeups they both become too much, with performances that might have been perfect onstage coming off as overly emphatic onscreen.Fun Little Movie - Benson
This is a wonderfully acted movie which basically features two old friends talking to each other. Fans of Pacino will really want to give this a go, as it's about two somewhat friends or aquaintances who are looking back on their lives and wondering how things came to be.Chinese Coffee - wino123
Al Pacino & Jerry Orbach pulled this off with aces. If you're expecting a fast-paced action flick, this isn't it. Much more like a theatrical production. We thoroughly enjoyed this - a pleasant change from so many of the no substance flicks available!
Member Reviews
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Overacted And Overwritten - CharleyJames
Originally a wonderful play, the film raises some interesting questions about how long an "artist" should pursue success until throwing in the towel, and how available the experiences and secrets of friends should be to a writer. But the entire exercise is ...Fun Little Movie - Benson
This is a wonderfully acted movie which basically features two old friends talking to each other. Fans of Pacino will really want to give this a go, as it's about two somewhat friends or aquaintances who are looking back on their lives and wondering how things ...Chinese Coffee - wino123
Al Pacino & Jerry Orbach pulled this off with aces. If you're expecting a fast-paced action flick, this isn't it. Much more like a theatrical production. We thoroughly enjoyed this - a pleasant change from so many of the no substance flicks available!