Like the previous reviewer stated, this is like a prelude to Magnolia, a similar ensemble film, set in Los Angeles, with a variety of interweaving story lines and characters. A lot of the characters are not good people, adulterers, boozers, people...
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Like the previous reviewer stated, this is like a prelude to Magnolia, a similar ensemble film, set in Los Angeles, with a variety of interweaving story lines and characters. A lot of the characters are not good people, adulterers, boozers, people who are apathetic to a dead body in a river, etc. However, the actors, for the most part excellent. I would say the best were Tim Robbins as the cheating uptight prick police officer, Bruce Davison as a news anchor, jazz singer Annie Ross, as, surprisingly, a jazz singer! But the best performance belongs to the late great Jack Lemmon, in one of his finest dramatic performances. His monologue on cheating on his wife with her sister is arguably the best scene, acting wise, of the whole 183 minute epic. One of the late Altman's best in a long, albeit sometimes uneven, film career.