The DVD is part of a four DVD collection called Pacino: An Actor’s Vision, put out by Twentieth Century Fox. Along with Chinese Coffee, the set includes a documentary called Babbleonia, in which Pacino talks with an acting professor, and two other Pacino helmed films, The Local Stigmatic (1990), and Looking For Richard (1996). The film is shown in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

The film has a prologue and epilogue with Pacino, Orbach, and the acting professor in discourses, where Pacino admits his limits as a director. It also has an audio commentary by Pacino which is solid, but nothing spectacular. There are some long pauses in comment and sometimes Pacino rambles off topic and even mumbles. But one gets a good sense of what he, as an actor, and even director, was thinking during the making of the film. He does make some broad statements about the film and characters which simply are not supported by the screenplay; but I’ve heard worse commentaries.

In researching this 97 minute long film, I’ve found that a number of critics of this film state things such as Jake’s envy of Harry’s talent is the reason why he rips into the book. But this claim is given no evidence, even if it is repeated by Pacino in the film’s audio commentary, because we never get to see whether or not Harry has any real writing talent. Not an iota of his work is quoted onscreen — an error too many works of art miss.

What is clear is that Jake deeply resents Harry’s usage of his own life for his work, whether or not it’s well done. And since it’s rather obvious that, while Jake is a crabby old bastard and failure, Harry clearly has some mental problems. The idea that Harry is a truly talented writer is just one more dip into the tired genius = madness trope.

Even my wife, Jessica, tends to fall into the category of those who place Jake as the villain of the piece, writing, "Orbach is somewhat a slimeball, and he blames others for his problems. Ultimately he is jealous of Pacino’s having written a book based on their friendship that he believes can sell and make money."

Well, Jake does blame others for his problems, and she does get the part about him believing the book can make money, rather than assuming he thinks it’s good, but this hardly makes him a slimeball. It makes him human, which is a reason the film, and likely the play, succeeds. And, I do not agree that it is jealousy, which can imply that Orbach may resent Harry’s quality of writing, but merely he seems to be frustrated and lashing out. Jake also seems angered over the fact that Harry wrote about his personal life, advice Jake gave him but which he never expected Harry to take. It is that which throws Jake for a loop, not that Jake underestimated Harry’s writerly skill — a fact we have no basis, in the screenplay, to go on. Also, Harry and Jake will likely make up after the reel stops rolling, for both are creatures of habit. To presume, as other critics have, that the play is about the deterioration or end of a friendship is wrong.