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List Price: $14.99 | | Label: Miramax Home Entertainment
Salesrank: 27912
Released: March 4, 2003 |
| Our Price: $8.06 |
| Used Price: $7.18 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
In the tradition of THE BIG CHILL, William Hurt (TUCK EVERLASTING, CHANGING LANES) and Harvey Keitel (PULP FICTION, U-571) head an all-star cast in this unforgettably fun and entertaining motion picture! A group of people's lives intertwine when a New York cigar store manager, Auggie (Keitel), befriends them. Among them is a writer who can't write (Hurt), a reluctant father hiding from his past (Forest Whitaker -- PANIC ROOM), a streetwise teen with an unusual identity crisis, and Auggie's long-lost ex-girlfriend (Stockard Channing -- TV's THE WEST WING), who returns with some surprising news! Critics and audiences hailed SMOKE for its offbeat humor, unexpected wit, and dazzling performances -- you'll cheer it too!
Description of Smoke:
It's refreshing to see a film in which the writer receives equal credit with the director, showing that the dialogue actually means something. So it is with Smoke, a film about a New York quilt of contemporary characters who cross paths in a corner smoke shop, told in straightforward way by a talented acting group. Author Paul Auster and director Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club) worked on the story for years before it reached the screen. Their characters include Paul (William Hurt, in a good role again), a grief-stricken novelist; Auggie (Harvey Keitel), the shop's owner with a secret passion; Ruby (Stockard Channing), Auggie's long-ago girlfriend; and Rashid (Harold Perrineau Jr.), a teenager who is befriended by Paul and seeks his estranged father (Forest Whitaker). All the characters are great storytellers, whether it be out of loneliness, necessity, or just nature. Like Auster's The Music of Chance, the movie has accomplished an amazing feat: it makes us feel as if we are reading a serious novel, not watching a movie. --Doug Thomas
Smoke Reviews:
This "Smoke" Doesn't Stink 
2008-06-29 - This little gem is one of the unsung classics of the nineties. Director Wayne Wang and co-director and scenarist Paul Auster have crafted a film that at turns funny, poignant, and tragic in a way that will always stay with you. Some may be turned off because the film centers on a Brooklyn tobacco shop and for sure there is a lot of casual smoking here but that's just a starting point for a script that follows a variety of interesting characters and many intriguing story twists. Harvey Keitel as Auggie the owner of the store gave what I thought one of the best performances of his career. The film is populated by great work(William Hurt, Forrest Whitaker, et. al) but Auggie is the glue that holds the film together. The extended scene where Auggie relates to the writer played by Hurt a Christmas story is worth the price of admission alone. Even better is the scene over the end credits where Auggie's story is visualized as Leonard Cohen warbles on the soundtrack. Also noteworthy is an unforgettable cameo by Ashley Judd as Stockard Channing's drug-addled daughter. This rank's with Alec Baldwin's work in "Glengarry Glen Ross" as an example of an actor making a major impact on a film with minimal screen time.
the story within the story
2007-12-15 - there's nothing i can add to the wonderful NY reviewers' comments here, except to say that if you enjoy this movie, watch for "auggie wren's christmas story" - the story within the film of auggie tracking down the magazine thief using the lost wallet. like "smoke," (also based on a story by auster) it's available in book form, and its charming small size makes it an excellent stocking stuffer. i heartily recommend ALL of auster's novels to those who appreciate downhome writing, NY style. auster is the flannery o'connor of the northeast.
Best of the genre
2007-11-17 - Slice o' life. Not too heavy, not too light. Absolutely believable. Very moving, but doesn't pander to cheap emotionalism. Even the dialogue is recognizable as something you might actually hear in real life. Substitutes a story for the usual violence, sex and high-decibel action. Acting, character presentation superb. For those not too cynical to enjoy a great, yet realistic feel-good movie, this is a good one. I use other high-rating picks of Amazon Five-Star reviewers of this movie as a rough guide for evaluating movies I haven't seen.
A neatly pulled-together story 
2007-05-07 - I tried to rent this from three separate video stores. No luck. What a shame; more people should have the opportunity to see this movie. Paul Auster and Wayne Wang have a curious treatment of race, but I otherwise enjoyed this well-thought-out film.
Harvey Keitel... as a GOOD guy!
2007-01-03 - Smoke (Wayne Wang, 1995)
Wayne Wang has had a kind of up-and-down career over the years, but Smoke is definitely one of his up moments. Not to say there couldn't have been some things done better here, but Wang takes Paul Auster's script and a fantastic stable of actors and just lets them loose. By all reports, Auster's script ended up taking quite a beating at the hands of the actors-- how much of the movie's dialogue is improvised has been a hotly-debated topic for years, but even the most conservative figures are pretty high-- but the end result is worthwhile.
The movie focuses around Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel), the owner of a cigar store, and his customer/friend Paul Benjamin (William Hurt), a writer trying to overcome the recent death of his wife. In the main storyline, into their lives steps Rashid Cole (Lost's Harold Perrineau), a kid on the run from a couple of gangsters. The movie then spins off onto tangents involving Rashid, Paul, and Auggie separately-- Rashid finds out his father (Forest Whitaker) is alive and living outside the city, Auggie's ex-girlfriend Ruby (Stockard Channing) shows up to tell him he's got an eighteen-year-old daughter, Paul; of course, is still dealing with his wife, and the resulting writers' block.
With all that Wang tries to fit into a surprisingly short movie, some of the plotlines get short shrift. Especially puzzling is the minuscule amount of screen time given Ashley Judd, who plays Auggie's daughter; their brief conversation opens a lot of doors into a lot of different places this movie (or a sequel) could have gone, and there's no follow-up. But still, what's here is grand, and well worth watching. *** ½
