Rachel (Thomason) manages London’s Black Cat Café, with a staff that would drive anyone crazy. The cook is her boyfriend, who she catches having a threesome with a set of twins. They have a running argue/make-up routine for the entire movie. 

Vanessa (Suvari) is Rachel’s good friend, whose grandmother is at the café for the day because it’s Vanessa’s turn to have her from the old folks home. Dylan (Meyer) is anxious about getting his book published, with the same intensity as Greg Kinnear in Little Miss Sunshine. Add to this mix the possessive boyfriend of an ex-porn actress, and a man who likes to expose himself to young women. The flasher tries to blackmail his lawyer friend into giving him an alibi. Meanwhile, the lawyer dresses in his fiancé’s underwear when she’s not at home. Of course, this would be news to his fiancé. These oddball relationships characterize the film. 

While the situations are very much over the top, real life people do crazy things. We seem to thrive on this type of notoriety when something drastic happens, and those involved have a lot of money. Then we pay attention. 

After seeing What Love Is shortly before this, I had the “been there seen that” feeling for the first 45 minutes of Caffeine. The set up is similar, which leads to much discussion about what to do about it. 

Other than the accents and the talk about “shagging” and “knickers,” there were no other references to British culture to add to the feel of the film being set in London. 

A number of the characters are quite irritating, but since we all know people like that, this was acceptable. Just about the time I was ready to write off the film as a low brow, second rate comedy like Tortilla Heaven, I found myself laughing out loud. One scene that comes to mind involves grandma and her shotgun; another is a guy who messes his pants and must find a way to exit the restaurant without his ex girlfriend knowing. 

Without a doubt, the best of the current crop of comedies that address the subject of relationships and love are Reign Over Me and I Think I Love My Wife.