A star-studded New Year’s Eve movie went viral last year for being incredibly hard to find, but this year you can at least purchase it on DVD. It’s called 200 Cigarettes, and it includes stars who have only gotten more famous in the years since its release like Paul Rudd, Ben Affleck and Dave Chappelle, among others. You can’s stream it, but you can get yourself a DVD copy of this cult classic here on Amazon for $13.99.
200 Cigarettes took the Internet by storm last December thanks to this article by Gabrielle Sierra for In Style, which drew attention to the fact that you couldn’t stream the movie anywhere. At the time, Sierra cited eBay listings for DVD copies of the movie priced at $265, and in September she updated the article to note that it had been re-released on DVD, explaining the price fluctuation. Still, for a movie with this many A-listers to be available only on DVD is shocking.
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It’s even more shocking when you learn that 200 Cigarettes is pretty popular among those who have seen it. It is about New Year’s Eve 1981, and it follows several simultaneous plot arcs all around New York City. At the center of it is Monica (Martha Plimpton), who is throwing a huge party and waiting for all her guests to show up. Many other characters run into hijinks as they slowly make their way to Martha’s place.
Other major stars to note include Christina Ricci, Casey Affleck, Janeane Garofalo, Courtney Love and Kate Hudson. Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello makes a cameo appearance as himself, and the movie is renowned for its score and its costuming. However, that wasn’t true at the time โ 200 Cigarettes barely made back its budget at the box office when it was released in 1999, and it got generally negative reviews.
Since then, movie fans seem to have changed their tune on this one. Sierra, at least, describes it as “freaking great,” and admits that she watches it “all the time.” She suspects that it has a cult following because audiences are hungry for some New Year’s Eve holiday movies to match all the other holiday flicks out there.
At the time of this writing, 200 Cigarettes is still not available on any digital platforms, but it is available on DVD for $13.99. If you order it from Amazon here, it may just barely be delivered in time for a New Year’s Eve watch party.