
The intertwined stories of a group of Angelenos are told, the stories largely a lament of Los Angeles being a city not their own if it ever was. The stories are also split largely by the black/white race divide. Centered on the black side is Simon, a widowed tow truck driver with a deaf daughter away at college. Simon has an understanding of the gang violence that surrounds his neighborhood, especially as his teenage nephew Otis - Simon's single-mother sister Deborah's eldest... (Full plot summary below)
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The intertwined stories of a group of Angelenos are told, the stories largely a lament of Los Angeles being a city not their own if it ever was. The stories are also split largely by the black/white race divide. Centered on the black side is Simon, a widowed tow truck driver with a deaf daughter away at college. Simon has an understanding of the gang violence that surrounds his neighborhood, especially as his teenage nephew Otis - Simon's single-mother sister Deborah's eldest offspring - is part of a gang, what he believes he has to do to survive in the short term regardless of the consequences. Centered on the white side is Mack, an immigration lawyer who acts largely on impulse only thinking of the implications of his actions after the fact if at all. He also has an unconscious want to be liked. An example of the latter is something he does for Jane, the friend of his paralegal Dee, only seconds after he meets her for the first time, Dee who better understands his actions but doesn't much like them. Mack's wife Claire is at a crossroads in life in their fifteen year old son, Roberto, needing his parents less and less. What Claire sees as a sign to renew her life is only the most visible issue in a long line of issues that demonstrate the unspoken problems in their marriage. The one person whose story is told that is somewhat outside of this lament is Mack's best friend, Davis, a successful producer whose movies, as per his want, must have the "money shot" of the proverbial and literal head exploding in whatever violent action.
Leave your thoughts about Grand Canyon.
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIn a time when our cities are wounded, movies like Grand Canyon can help to heal. |
| NewsweekDavid AnsenKasdan's movie doesn't succeed, but see it: it's the season's most fascinating failure. |
| Hartford CourantMalcolm JohnsonIts true meaning can be found in the yawning chasm between the writer-director's lofty ambitions to project a deep, multilayered vision and his inability to convince us of the reality of his people and their relationships. |
| Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittGrand Canyon finds Kasdan in firm control of a restrained and intelligent style. Eliciting first-rate performances from a well-chosen cast, he brings these to the screen with graceful eloquence - giving words as much weight as actions. |
| Rolling StonePeter TraversGrand Canyon is most gripping when Kasdan shows people waking up to the world and finding that they need more than bromides. |
| Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumRidiculously ambitious, though often likable and touching in its sincerity. |
| TimeRichard SchickelIf sometimes this loose and anecdotal film loses dramatic pace, it always rights itself. And it remains steadily in touch with its best qualities - generosity, common sense and a mature decency that is neither smug nor sentimental. |
| Washington PostJoe BrownThe graceful and affecting Grand Canyon, with its flock of fortysomethings, is much more than just "The Bigger Chill." |
| Wall Street JournalJulie SalamonA superbly heartfelt drama for six diverse actors, it is as colorfully striated as its majestic namesake - and almost as wide. The film's depth is another matter altogether. |
| EmanuelLevy.ComEmanuel LevyVery much an ensemble-driven zeitgeist film like Kasdan's previous Big Chill, this serio comedy about urban angst in contemporary LA may be a bit pretentious in its symbolic aspirations, but it proved prophetic in some of its ideas. |