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Poster for Short Cuts

Short Cuts

From two American masters comes a movie like no other

1993 · 3h 8m · R Comedy, Drama
Directed by Robert Altman

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Overview

Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy's grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy's birthday cake.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
95%
Tomatometer
Fresh

As the grand ringmaster, it's here that Altman passes the baton to his actors , whose behavioral insights are critical to the film's success.

Todd McCarthy, Variety
Fresh

Inevitably it's a mixed bag, though the film's assurance in keeping it all coherent is at times exhilarating.

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Fresh

From the exhilarating opening, you know Altman's epic 'adaptation' of eight stories and a poem by Raymond Carver is going to be special.

Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Fresh

The lives are often desperate and the characters inarticulate, but the group portrait is as grandly, sometimes as hilariously, realized as anything the director has ever done.

Vincent Canby, New York Times
Fresh

Triumphantly fierce, funny, moving and innovative.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

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