In case you missed it … ‘Caffeine’

What would you get if you combined Friends with Waiting … In a strange sort of way, you’d get Caffeine. Just tack on a British accent to the entire cast and your set. Caffeine was directed by John Cosgrove and features Mena Suvari in the cast, but she’s only one part of this ensemble comedy.

Rachel (Marsha Thomason) owns a small London cafe staffed by friends. Rachel has just found out her boyfriend Charlie, and chef, has had a threesome and was dumb enough to tell her about it. Now that Rachel has broken it off with Charlie (Callum Blue) and as a result fired her chef, she struggles to keep the cafe in order. Its a busy rush and her staff all have their own problems to deal with when Rachel asks them to pick up the slack without Charlie. Vanessa (Mena Suvari) is trying to keep an eye on her crazy grandmother who she has to babysit while at work, but doesn’t want Rachel to know. Dylan (Breckin Meyer) can’t focus on his work because he’s waiting to find out if his novel is getting published. Tom (Mark Pellegrino) just can’t handle the stress of everyone else’s problems while failing miserably at filling in as chef.

As the customers get more restless, they also begin to develop their own bizarre problems and the cafe soon becomes a circus of odd behavior and coincidental events. The story is merely that of any well-written sitcom, but its humorous and entertaining enough to justify a feature-length movie. There’s no bigger picture and underlying message in Caffeine, just a good time. The entire cast generally does a good job, however I found myself questioning Suvari’s fake British accent whenever she speaks.