Rating: 
Summary: Watch this Over and Over and Over and then Watch it Again
Review: I heartily agree with all the comments of the reviewers above who rated this flick positively. For me, it was NOT a movie about racism. It is a movie about synchronicity (see the book "The Celestine Prophecy") for a story about synchronicity. Things happen = happenstance, random, coincidence, serendipitous......Danny Glover's performance in this move was powerful! I really loved his character and all the scenes he is in. He takes care of his sister, niece and nephew while he chats on a deaf enabled telephone to his deaf daughter who lives in Washington D.C. Technologically, a precursor look at Instant Messaging circa 1990
that people who are deaf used with a phone and a modem. So, even though Simon is a tow truck driver, he uses this technology in his home to be a father to his daughter. He helps Mack, Kevin Kline's character and Mack and Simon develop a friendship. I found this a very realistic theme. I have had similar experiences. The actress who played Simon's sister was dynamite as she portrayed her sheer terror, panic and hysteria as her humble home is riddled with gang's automatic weapons bullets. Her performance is of academy award caliber as is Danny Glover's. Alfre Woodard who plays Jane, who becomes Simon's main "squeeze" is also a powerful, powerful performance in its simplicity. The scene of Jane and Simon on their first date is definite academy ward winning acting. Mary McDonnell as Claire, is a powerful character. All the characters are well developed and different and there is depth to their personalities. Patrick Malone as Otis, Simon's nephew who does not believe he can survive past age 25 is excellent.
Steve Martin as a movie producer who makes blood and guts movies
is a caricature and provides not so much comic relief as "cad" relief as he plays a louse. The scene of Steve Martin shot in the leg foaming at the mouth is horrible. Blood is a character in this movie. Blood being scrubbed off the sidewalk. Blood on a cutting board in the kitchen. Blood on the chest of an old man given CPR. Ambulances are a character throughout. There is an omnipresent police helicopter that is a device that separates the "chapters" or vignettes of the story. Architecture is interwoven as the beauty of the buildings and their patina in changing light is juxtaposed against the violence coming down around their beauty. Dream sequences of Kevin Kline and Mary McDonell are bizarre and realistic, the way many of our dreams are and shows how we try to work out the issues in our lives in our dreams. I found this to be a finely wrought, highly crafted film that I can watch repeatedly and never tire of. All the criticism of the film listed above and of the Kasdans as producers are pure idiocy. Those reviewers, I can only conclude, have not experienced the spiritual synchronicity depicted in the film and thus "can't relate" to it, don't see it as realistic. All of us are on spiritual journeys. Some of us are farther along than others. Kevin Cline's character meaningfully struggles with "creative meddling" that he does in other peoples' lives. I suspect many of us rarely introspect about the meddling or impact we have on others. As Mack says, we have to reach out to those who come into our lives and pull us back from the brink. This is truly a great film.
Rating:
Summary: One of the true marvels in movie history
Review: I have seen this movie shortly after it came out, and then never found it again in any video store. A short while ago I bought the DVD, and by watching it for the second time 13 years after I had initally seen it, it was just as wonderful as the first time.
It is not so much about the movie itself, it is more about the message it portrays. THis is how the world should be, with people helping each other, regardless of where they come from or what they are. Wonderfully intertwining the different characters, the movie appears like the little brother of Short Cuts.
Rating: 
Summary: TO MANY THINGS GOING ON AT THE SAME TIME
Review: I FELT THIS MOVIE WAS A WASTE OF TIME AND THE DIRECTOR SHOULD NEVER DIRECT AGAIN!!!! IT TRIED TO PUT EVERYBODY'S LIFE IN THE MOVIE, INSTEAD OF CONCENTRATING ON GLOVER AND KLINE.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth watching more than once...
Review: I saw this film at a local cineplex when it was first released and since then, I've revisited "Grand Canyon" at least a dozen times. Here are a ten observations:
1. This film's theatrical release took place around the time that the Rodney King trial was getting underway, and the ensuing LA riots would take place some months later. It's interesting how the underlying theme of "Grand Canyon" preceeded the "Can't we all just get along," thrust of King's later remark to the news media in the wake of the riots.
2. Kevin Kline does a good job of portraying an immigration lawyer who is having an affair with his secretary; Danny Glover and Mary McDonnell are okay in portraying a tow truck driver and a modern LA mom, respectively; and probably because he had nothing to do with the producing, directing or writing involved in this film, his role in "Grand Canyon" happens to be one of Steve Martin's better performances.
3. The only special effects in this movie are in a dream sequence of Kevin Kline flying through the night air in metropolitan Los Angeles. Otherwise, there are no car explosions, flying monkeys, no interglactic arks transporting shipments of minerals through deep space, no aliens blowing holes through buildings, and no Whoopie Goldberg.
4. One element missing in the movie is humor. Aside from Glover's remark that the Kline character may not know many black people, there really isn't much to laugh or even smile about; this lack of humor alone seems to make the characters less human and more like puppets in some morality play about undesirable behavior and human nature that plods along slowly, but methodically.
5. Everything got thrown into this movie except the kitchen sink. I suppose the whole concept of all these significant events (a rescue from would-be muggers in a bad part of LA, finding an abandoned baby, being shot by a gunman at close range, etc.) happening all at once may have looked good on paper, but in transition to film, I found myself thinking how implausible such an unrelated chain of events happening to a few people within a few hours would be.
6. The thought that everyone should get together and that miracles really can happen are fine sentiments, but halfway through "Grand Canyon," I was wondering what Kadsan was going to throw in for a Grand Finale: The Kline Character discovers a body buried in his backyard? The Glover character dies in a bar fight? The Mary McDonnell character turns lesbo? Kenny Rogers buys vast tracts of Brentwood in order to build an amusement park/dude ranch?
7. At the very end of the film, everybody piles in a van and they all drive to the Grand Canyon, where they gaze in dumbfoundedness at this awesome natural wonder. I guess if this movie had been written by Callie Khouri (Thelma and Louise) Kevin Kline would have driven the van off a cliff... I guess Kasdan must have decided against this sort of ending because he couldn't find enough room to put Ridley Scott in the van.
8. Probably because the white Ford Bronco didn't even exist at that time, no mention is ever made of O.J. Simpson. At the time this film was being developed, O.J. was still being filmed running through airports with old ladies and business suits cheering him on. Clearly, I was disappointed that some featurette including vignettes of O.J.'s struggles wasn't included on the dvd, because witnessing the O.J. trial was a lot like experiencing a vast cultural divide for us working stiffs.
9. On the dvd that I bought, you have to fast-forward through all of this crap to get to the main menu. I hope someday that the idiots who direct the manufacturing of these things realize how much they are pissing people off by doing this.
10. Despite many of the above observations, the dvd film version of "Grand Canyon" is excellent. "Grand Canyon" has a lot going for it, or else I wouldn't have given it five stars. Great Cinematography. Great Soundtrack. Excellent casting. I certainly enjoyed it, even though the actual story line was slightly weak.
Rating:
Summary: Are you joking?
Review: I don't care what the New York Times says - this is one of the best movies ever made!!
Rating:
Summary: This is a film
Review: This is a movie about life, plain and simple. I saw this dvd on sale for $$$$ at my local best buy, so i thought i would give it a shot........from the first scene where Mack is on the verge of getting held up i was totally hooked - the whole movie was breath-taking , I have never seen a film quite like it, i know alot of people try to compare it to magnolia but i think that's ridiculous.....this film deserves to be recognized for what it is, a story about life and the fact that everybody is a little peon on this planet, but each and everyone of us dictates each others lives in a significant way when we are not even aware of it. I'm tired of reading negative reviews from this tree-hugging hippy new york times junkies, please watch this movie for yourself to form your own opinion rather than basing it on a media outlet. This film will resonate w/ you, it's not your typical friday night rental, it is the type of film that will be in the back of your mind right after you watched it.........
Rating: 
Summary: Faith, God, Life and everything in between...
Review: This is a great place to begin a journey of thinking...when this world is so big, is God really interested in my every day life? A great film that depicts intertwined stories (like the brilliant "Magnolia" but less gracefully executed) and people's trials and hard times along the bumpy road of life. See it, breath it and think hard...it may make you doubt what you believe, but whatever it does, hopefully, it will make you a better person in the end.
Rating:
Summary: A little silly and quite pretentious
Review: I see what the director was aiming for, but the execution is so poor and the script so humorless that the project becomes a jacknifing trainwreck. Steve Martin, trying to be serious in his white beard, is particularly awful. I laughed myself off my seat.
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