Directed by: Paul Auster & Wayne Wang Written by: Paul Auster & Wayne Wang Produced by: Francey Grace, Greg Johnson, Harvey Keitel,
Hisami Kuroiwa, Peter Newman, Diana Phillips, Bob Weinstein &
Harvey Weinstein Production company: Miramax Films Location: NY Date of filming: July 1994 Budget: $ 2 million
Cast
Lou Reed
Michael J. Fox
Roseanne
Mel Gorham
Jim Jarmusch
Lily Tomlin
Jared Harris
Giancarlo Esposito
Malik Yoba
José Zúñiga
Victor Argo
Stephen Gevedon Madonna
Sharif Rashed
Mira Sorvino
Keith David
Peggy Gormley
Harvey Keitel
Man with Strange Glasses
Pete Maloney
Vinnie's Wife
Violetta
Bob
The waffle eater
Jimmy Rose
Tommy Finelli
The Watch Man
Jerry
Vinnie
Dennis
Singing Telegram
Purse Snatcher
The young lady
Jackie Robinson
Waitress
Auggie Wren
Soundtrack
Original Music by: John Lurie, Billy Martin & Calvin
Weston
The soundtrack doesn't contain any songs by Madonna. Mel Gorham does a rendition of Fever which was also covered by Madonna a few years earlier.
Release
Released as: Blue In The Face Released in theatres: Oct. 13th, 1995 (US) Released on DVD: March 4th, 1999 (Europe) / May 25th 2003
(US) Runtime: 80 minutes Genre: Comedy MPAA rating: R Box office: $ 1.3 million (US)
Synopsis
Wayne Wang's follow-up movie to Smoke presents a series of improvisational
situations strung together to form a pastiche of Brooklyn's diverse
ethnicity, offbeat humor, and essential humanity. Many of the
same characters inhabiting Auggie Wren's Brooklyn Cigar Store
in Smoke return here to expound on their philosophy of smoking,
relationships, baseball, New York, and Belgian Waffles. Most of
all, this is a movie about living life, off-the-cuff.
Rating
Blue In The Face does not have a proper plot, it's just some comic situations set in the diverse Brooklyn, in and around of Auggie's cigar shop. Whereas Smoke had a real story, Blue in The Face focuses on silly stuff about the everyday life in Brooklyn, the different ethnics and Belgian waffles. Madonna's brief cameo as a Western Union telegram girl towards the end of the movie is a nice addition, she delivers her message as a hot performance! 5,5/10
Awards
1995 Stockholm Film Festival: nomination for Bronze Horse
1996 American Comedy Awards: nomination for 'Funniest Supporting
Actress in a Motion Picture' (Lily Tomlin)