Review of Short Cuts (1993) by Eric O — 02 Oct 2010

Robert Altman has never shied away from casting every actor known to mankind in his films, and this is certainly true with his 1993 film "Short Cuts", a film set in Los Angeles over the course of a couple of days.

In terms of primary actors, ones that had a substantial enough part to merit a supporting tag, I count at least 22 characters here; but more impressive than the sheer number of the cast is the fact that the film does not suffer from character overload, nor do their intertwining stories.

"Short Cuts" is simply about human relationships, all of which seem to be completely unhealthy. The beauty of Altman's script and direction is that this isn't imminently apparent in all cases.

Something as subtle as a sigh and a minor roll of the eyes speaks volumes in a film this well done. The acting in the film is, to be expected, great in most cases. Andie MacDowell, though not quite as insipid as usual, is still pretty bad, but gems like Lyle Lovett, Peter Gallagher, Tom Waits and a fairly fresh and new Julianne Moore more than make up for any minor acting mishaps.

There are not many films that are so involved that I simply throw up my hands at the prospect of doing my standard summary review for them, but "Short Cuts" is one of them. The script is compelling enough to easily sit through all 187 minutes of the film without getting tired or bored a bit, and the ending doesn't disappoint (except that the family of Casey didn't know who killed their son), and the film contains a cool jazz score.

Like Altman's other great films which I enjoyed like â??M.A.S.H.â??, â??Nashvilleâ??, and â??The Playerâ??; this one is I think his best, longest, and my favorite because of not the all-star cast, good story and script, but on a very effective and very influential moment that we get to see on movies and on real life as well.