Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6052 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-02-04
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 188 minutes

Synopsis
Using the short stories of Raymond Carver as a springboard, American maverick director Robert Altman weaves a tapestry of interlocking tales set against the seedy backdrop of contemporary middle-class Los Angeles. Tracking the various stages of denial, rage, and despair in the lives of several couples--a philandering cop and his masochistic spouse (Tim Robbins and Madeline Stowe); a helicopter pilot who gets revenge on his ex by trashing her house (Peter Gallagher and Frances McDormand); a man and woman whose perfect life falls apart when they lose their son in a hit-and-run accident (Bruce Davison and Andie MacDowell); a pool cleaner who listens in mounting frustration to his wife performing phone sex each day while tending her brood of children (Chris Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh); a wealthy couple who are haunted by an incident from the past (Matthew Modine and Julianne Moore); an aging jazz singer and her suicidal daughter (Annie Ross and Lori Singer); an alcoholic limo driver and his waitress wife (Tom Waits and Lily Tomlin)--Altman reveals their common threads of familial dysfunction and marital discord in the unforgiving glare of the Southern California sunlight. The result is a sweeping motion picture that also stands as an important sociological artefact of late 20th century Los Angeles life.

Customer Reviews

one of the most boring and depressing experiences I have ever had
OK it's stylish, OK it's got a cracking cast and it's well acted, but this is simply the most boring film I have ever seen, nothing happens - honestly - nothing, there is just no coherent story line to link it all together and the entire 3 hours+ (and trust me, it felt longer) was like a series of completley unrelated, depressing and, ultimately, pointless vignettes.

This is Altman at his self-obsessed, self-indulgent worst. Avoid it, unless you've got far to much time on your hands and want to be made thoroughly depressed, confused and miserable.

And the music score has got to much jazz on it as well.

The unkindest cuts of all
This is something of the Emperors' Clothes - certain people want to say they like it in order to appear arty and clever.
If this is art give me trash.
I began watching this with an open mind not knowing anything about it - great cast, name director, LA setting.
Oh no, I thought as the movie initially kept refering to a plague of something called a medfly - we'll be up to our eyes in horrific entymological images in no time and that don't sound too relishing.
After an hour nothing had happened. No horror, no eco message, lots of horrid spoiled American brats, and spoiled adults come to that. Sketches of unlikeable people in linkable situations and sometimes passably interesting dialogue.
So here's a star for keeping me watching for that long!
If you're into USA at its dull, pretentious,emotional worst grab it. If you like movies with a sprinkling of some kind of magic. Avoid like a plague of medfly.

great film
If you like Magnolia, you'll like this. The acting is top notch, the various stories never get boring, the fact that there are so many stories means that the three hours fly by, and there are some interesting shots of Julianne Moore's anatomy. It's a little grim at times but not as grim as Magnolia. We don't have to watch Tom Cruise in this one at least.

This film is a slice of LA which makes me never want to move there. In a good way. The script is pure Carver in the way that characters speak absolutely realistically. I recommend it.