This is a great film if you have a lot of patience and are OK with zero action.It is a massive character study, the closest comparison I can make is Magnolia. 13 Conversations lack the heavy hitting stars and soundtrack of Magnolia so has to rely more on the characters. This makes it a little more gritty, less polished but equally as satisfying.Magnolia also has a focused event at its heart making it quite a structured film. This isn't, there is no one big event that ties it altogether. The characters live their lives, sometimes their stories collide, brush against one another or completely diverge.This lack of structure really comes down to a taste. If a character's life is effected by the actions of a stranger don't naturally assume that stranger will be named or their story weaved in later on. It is possible they will never be mentioned again. This keeps you guessing and makes the film unpredictable. But it does leave loose ends that some people may find irritating.

A Robert Altman-style film, but written and directed by women. Several characters ponder what happiness means as they slog through their daily lives. The cast is impeccable, and includes Clea Duvall, Matthew Mc., John Turturro and Alan Arkin, who steals the show amid a very large cast. He plays an embittered, divorced middle manager well past retirement age with a junkie son. On a whim, Arkin commits an irresponsible act that will come back to haunt him. Duvall is an accident victim whose life can never be the same. If you like Altman movies, in all probability you will like this one. All others, beware. No wild car chases, explosions or shoot-outs here.

Like many films of the last few years, this one has a complex, multi-layered, interwoven story structure, but it's worth the effort to follow. It IS a film in which you literally listen to "13 conversations about one thing" – a film which is both linear and non-linear at the same time. It is definitely worth your viewing. Expect a film that is moody, downbeat, and thoughtful, yet tinted with optimism that ALL of the characters seem only begin glimpsing. You'll want to SLAP them sometimes! The acting is good (many stars), the scoring very supportive, the photography rich, and the lessons to be learned: very useful. Pay attention.

It's always pleasing to unexpectedly stumble across an intelligent and thought-provoking film such as this. Essentially a study on both the fickle nature of happiness and our (mis)understanding of it, and of the random manner in which complete strangers can alter the path of a person's life with neither being aware of the fact, 13 Conversations interweaves the tales of a handful of characters with deceptive ease and no little skill. Not only does the film smoothly pull all the strands together, it also does so by telling a tale that is not chronologically linear, but which overlaps in the same way that its characters' lives overlaps.Perhaps the only flaw is that a disproportionate amount of screen time is given to Alan Arkin's character at a cost to the others. John Turturro's professor and Matthew McConnaughy's yuppie lawyer in particular seem to be the casualties of this, but it has to be said that Arkin gives a masterful performance and carries his part of the film with ease. The dialogue is sometimes a little too clever for its own good – we get a sense of people making speeches to each other rather than holding conversations on occasion – but, having said that, what the characters have to see is always interesting and absorbing. A very good film, worthy of its high rating.