Review of Short Cuts (1993) by Alex S — 27 Sep 2010

If you like your movies to have a solid beginning, middle and end, this is not the movie for you. Yeah, thereâ??s an ending after three hours but if youâ??re planning to stick around after the credits for closure through all the interlacing meandering this movie does, youâ??re going to be sorely disappointed.

Now then, if you love ensemble casts, compelling stories and a director who is somehow able to juggle 22 parts for three hours, pull up a chair and steel yourself in. Thereâ??s no way to do justice to Altmanâ??s adaptation of Carverâ??s writings in one review but suffice it to say, the good outweigh the bad, which is no easy accomplishment when you consider weâ??ve got a child being hit by a car, crumbling marriages, thoughts of suicide, alcoholism, ignoring a nearby corpse, Alex Trebek and The Planeteers of â??Captain Planetâ?? fame.

And that's about 30 percent of the stuff going on here. Itâ??s a movie that demands repeat viewings since these characters enter into and out of each otherâ??s respective stories and while some may perform better than others (Jack Lemmon shines while Peter Gallagher somehow manages to make using a chainsaw for revenge boring, Julianne Moore does surprisingly well while the almost-always reliable Andie MacDowell oscillates between â??greatâ?? and â??whereâ??s the fast forward button on this remote?â??), the end result is one that leaves you feeling youâ??ve just seen something great.

Granted, youâ??ve seen a depiction of struggles in suburbia Los Angeles circa 1993, but itâ??s still pretty captivating. Then you realize for how â??realâ?? this whole thing is, there are some notable â??huh?â?? moments (the ending being a big one, and for me personally, the fact that apparently there were no Asians or Mexicans in California in the early 90s).

Still, Altman does what he does best and for being three hours long, it moves faster than most 90 minute movies.