review: Short Cuts

Robert Altman does a GREAT job intertwining some works from the short story master Raymond Carver. If you haven't read Carver's work, do yourself a favor and get one of his books. Nevertheless, Altman casts the perfect actors/actresses and generates a multidimensional and perceptive motion picture which runs the gamut from comedy to tragedy and presents an entire earthquake of entertainment. Nearly all of the acting is great, with standout performances from Tim Robbins as an uproarious chauvinistic egoist of a Los Angeles motorcycle cop to Tom Waits with Lily Tomlin (quite possibly the best pairing in cinematic history) to dependably solid performances from Jack Lemmon, Robert Downey Jr., Julianne Moore, Lily Taylor and Frances McDormand to the highly unexpected first-rate efforts of Lyle Lovett, Matthew Modine, Huey Lewis (yes, THAT Huey Lewis) and Jennifer Jason Leigh. In fact, Andie MacDowell and Lori Singer may be the only somewhat weak performances in the film and they are even forgivable. This is a great opus of talent and entertainment. Do yourself a favor and see it!