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

Mack (Kevin Kline) lives a comfortable life in L.A. with his wife Claire (Mary McDonnell) and son Roberto (Jeremy Sisto). One night after a Lakers game with friend Davis (Steve Martin), his car breaks down in a bad neighborhood. He is threatened by young thugs when tow truck driver Simon (Danny Glover) comes to the rescue. Davis is a producer of violent films and he gets shot during a mugging. Claire discovers an abandoned baby. She is suffering from an empty nest and brings the baby home. Mack is drawn to his flirtatious secretary Dee (Mary-Louise Parker). Simon lives alone and has a deaf daughter. His sister Deborah (Tina Lifford) lives in a rough neighborhood and her son Otis is being pulled into a gang. Their house gets shot up. Mack sets up Simon with Jane (Alfre Woodard) from the office.This starts with a very memorable turn by Danny Glover. His little speech is a poetic plea for civility. The varied characters from varied backgrounds all have compelling lives. I am reminded of Oscar winning Crash (2004) except I like this one better. I feel drawn into each character's world. Unlike Crash, I don't feel manipulated. These characters have more reality and more humanity. Every one of them is trying to live within this interconnected world.

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.

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.