The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Well if random conversations and the meanderings of dysfunctional characters going nowhere is your thing, this might be the film for you. Just be advised that you'll have to be prepared to devote three hours to a movie that essentially doesn't achieve a resolution for most of it's characters. Which may actually be the point of the film because life is like that to a great degree. Things happen, people make wrong choices, there are regrets and recriminations, and after all that, life goes on. As a venue for a lot of celebrated and accomplished actors the film is OK; they move their angst driven characters through a variety of situations skillfully, but just as in that other esteemed Robert Altman picture "Nashville", I felt no connection to any of them or what was going on with them. Perhaps it's my loss, but the director's filming style just doesn't appeal to me, and his story telling even less.

Interlocking stories, sprawling yet small, this is a fascination movie to watch because it just seems to happen all around you. It's a little long and there's no real "plot" to speak of, but you create the narrative from how everything fits. A few parts seemed over the top (confronting the baker/the earthquake/etc) but it's hard to find fault when the choices work so well. Some great small character moments sprinkled throughout (Jack Lemmon).

Helicopters are spraying for Medfly infestation in Los Angeles. Various residents live their lives. There is TV commentator Howard Finnigan (Bruce Davison) lives with his wife Anne (Andie MacDowell). Dr. Ralph Wyman (Matthew Modine) and his wife Marian (Julianne Moore) are at a concert. Claire (Anne Archer) and Stuart Kane (Fred Ward) are also at the concert. Limo driver Earl Piggot (Tom Waits) stops at the diner where his wife Doreen (Lily Tomlin) works. Honey Piggot Bush (Lili Taylor) and Bill Bush (Robert Downey, Jr.) are out with their friends. Sherri (Madeleine Stowe) and Gene Shepard (Tim Robbins) are a combative married couple. Lois Kaiser (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a pro phone sex operator in front of her husband Jerry (Chris Penn) and their kids. Stormy Weathers (Peter Gallagher) is one of the helicopter pilots and Betty (Frances McDormand) is his ex-wife.That's not even every main characters. I think I missed a few. It's an impressive cast. I'm just not sure what I'm looking at. The all-star cast actually makes it a bit artificial. It's not a story of these various characters. It's watching these great actors doing their bits. It's fascinating to a certain point but it's not really compelling to me.

I'm glad I came across this Robert Altman movie set in Los Angeles. This is a long movie and has a lot of characters. Surprisingly if you concentrate it isn't too confusing who is who. It keeps you interested to see how things turned out for the different sets of people and piecing together the jigsaw is quite fun. The story isn't that predictable. Good mix of drama and bizarre comedy, even if some of the eccentric characters are a bit too way off. Liked the fishing trip. The only problem is you don't get enough development of the characters because there isn't enough time. Maybe a few less would have been better. The best part of watching this movie in 2013 is to see the terrific cast and how they have all gone on to so much in their careers. Also a bit poignant how some of them have aged in the 20 years since. Good to see Jack Lemmon in one of his later roles. Madeleine Stowe is lovely. Tim Robbins and Peter Gallagher are quite hilarious. Worth a watch.