Like many other people, I enjoyed this far more than the heavy-handed (accidental pun) "Smoke". The loose, free-wheeling quality of the film is what really makes it work. Vignettes and real-life (?) interviews mix together to paint a picture of what it means to be from Brooklyn. I forgot how fucking great Lou Reed was in this film.

lou reed!!! geliebtes brooklyn!

Chatty, directionless spiritual sequel to Smoke about the characters surrounding a cigar store in Brooklyn. Definitely a post-Tarantino, post-Clerks, post-Spike Lee product of the nineties. While some of the long takes are interesting, the largely improvised film falls flat as it has no place to go, no character development, and very little interesting dialog. If this were made today it would feature ironic glasses and be centered around a hip coffee shop or pinball parlor in Brooklyn.

This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Like many other people, I enjoyed this far more than the heavy-handed (accidental pun) "Smoke". The loose, free-wheeling quality of the film is what really makes it work. Vignettes and real-life (?) interviews mix together to paint a picture of what it means to be from Brooklyn. I forgot how fucking great Lou Reed was in this film.

I haven't seen Smoke, but after seeing this collection of improvised scenes shot after hours on the set, I'm really interested. Lured in by the promise of Lou Reed and Roseanne, I was happy to find that the film had merits far beyond these, admittedly, great aspects.
I love how the interjected 'documentary' scenes lend the film a real feeling as if the film was representative of all of Brooklyn.
All the actors were funny and most of the vignettes were wither interesting or funny.