Mr-Fusion I tend to favor Lawrence Kasdan movies, but "Grand Canyon" is a vexing one. In this post-"Crash" world, it seems like I can't look at a high-caliber film about human relations without some inherent baggage. Thanks for that, Haggis."Grand Canyon" smacks of Oscar bait, which is disappointing. And to be honest, I came away disliking a few of these characters (surprising, when they're played by Steve Martin and Kevin Kline; they're unlikely unsympathetic actors). Feels like every time we take a break for the social lesson, someone goes into another speech. What separates this from the more manipulative fare is that there's sincerity in those speeches; like Kasdan's desperately trying to work out that's puzzling him. There's merit to that, but the meandering pace and clunky delivery spoil the lesson.5/10

serafinogm On a personal level take heart your troubles, even your triumphs are transitory and eventually of no import for you (however how you live your life does and will affect others)! That's the whole point of this movie and yet I failed to learn it's lesson and am continually stuck in the moment beset with regrets from the past and fears for the future and I know I'm playing a game that is fixed but more importantly temporary, yet I'm incapable of rising above the fray and see it for what it is, an accident! Because of my inability to separate my life and my reactions to life from this absurd game I make one mistake after another! Salman Rushdie said something very profound that sums up this movie beautifully (at least for me): "I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I'm gone which would not have happened if I had not come." Salman you nailed it! By the way the movie is well worth a watch! I was very emotional whereas others I've talked with couldn't have cared less! Perspective based on life experience I suppose! There's a comment from another movie (Gladiator) that in this context seems rather cogent and it is the following: "What we do in life echos in eternity" (The law of conservation of energy?)! What an amazing quote! By the way the cast gave great performances save perhaps Steve Martin whose performance seemed, at times, stilted or perhaps more correctly not genuine! Therefore I couldn't rate this wonderful film 10 stars.

Michael Neumann Lawrence Kasdan updates the ensemble cast and multi-plot Yuppie distress of 'The Big Chill' to the 1990s, which only means his new film is twice as long as its predecessor. It begins with the worst nightmare of any white urban professional, when Kevin Kline's car breaks down in the wrong part of Los Angeles. He's rescued from drug dealers by tow truck driver Danny Glover (in the best scene of the film), and returns the favor by relocating Glover's family to a safer neighborhood, after which everyone goes to see the Arizona landmark of the film's title.Like so many other American movies these days, the whole thing can be summed in a single word: overkill. The simple message is delivered like a valentine at gunpoint, with the usual battery of portentous music cues and visual clichés, turning even a simple act like Kline reaching for a telephone into an event of earth-shattering significance. Worse yet, Kasdan's miracles look more like Yuppie wish-fulfillment fantasies (saving the colored folks; finding a beautiful, abandoned baby while out jogging), and the script is bogged down by too much 'heavy' dialogue, giving everyone a chance to express frustration with and/or amazement at the Human Condition.

edwagreen This film shows interpersonal relationships and their effects on the cast.We are given a grand tour of urban violence, the lack of male domination in the black family, resulting with children who can come and go as they please without retribution.Nearly everyone here is vulnerable to all sorts of violence with Kevin Kline, landing in a difficult neighborhood when he car dies on him. Rescued by Danny Glover, the two form a basic relationship as Kline becomes immersed with Glover's problems- a sister with 2 children living in a violent neighborhood, desperately seeking to get out, Kline's relationship with his secretary, his wife finding a baby and wanting to adopt it, his teenage son coming into a meaningful relationship with a girl during a stint at summer camp.We're evidently seeing moral decay similar to what we saw in 1958's "Some Came Running." As was the case with the latter film, "Grand Canyon" is wonderfully done.Steve Martin is fabulous as Kline's friend, shot during a mugging and whose views on violent films temporarily changes only to revert back to the way of making money at any cost.