Read Time:2 Minute, 8 Second
Every day at London’s Black Cat Café, friends gather for a cup of coffee and some light conversation. But on one fateful afternoon, something else is brewing—and it’s about to boil over.
After a late night of partying, the staff members at the Black Cat aren’t exactly at their best. But to make matters worse, Rachel (Marsha Thomason), the manager, just fired her boyfriend, the café’s chef, Charlie (Callum Blue), after he drunkenly confessed to cheating on her—and now they’ve got to try to make do without him. That leaves three: Tom (Mark Pellegrino), who’s trying (unsuccessfully) to take over as chef, Dylan (Breckin Meyer), a novelist who’s nervously waiting to hear back from his agent, and Vanessa (Mena Suvari), who’s trying to keep her crazy grandma hidden in a corner of the café.
Meanwhile, the café is packed with customers who are spilling secrets all over the place. There’s bookworm Gloria (Sonya Walger), whose controlling boyfriend discovers (thanks to another male patron) that she starred in a few porno flicks to pay her way through college. There’s Mike (Andrew Lee Potts), who’s trying to get over his ex-girlfriend while dealing with all kinds of secret fears and phobias. There are prim and proper businessmen and people on blind dates—all with an embarrassing skeleton or two in their closet. Even a few members of the staff have something they’re hiding. Some of them share openly, while others need to be backed into a corner before they’ll come clean.
Packed with more dirty little secrets than an episode of The Jerry Springer Show, Caffeine is a fun and irreverent little indie that’s full of hilarious surprises. Though not all of the jokes work all the time, when they do work, they really work—and they’ll likely have you doubled up laughing. Keep an eye out, especially, for the Crazy Grandma (played by Roz Witt). Because just when things seem to be slowing down, she’ll jump in to shake things up again.
Of course, Caffeine isn’t without its flaws. The sound mixing is sometimes a bit off—and the music drowns out some of the dialogue. And Mena Suvari’s bad British accent gets distracting at times (fortunately, Breckin Meyer gracefully admits defeat and sticks to his American accent). But overall, this spicy little film is good for a few laughs. If it makes it to a theater—or a video store—near you, it’s worth checking out.
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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