--- title: "Short Cuts: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/short-cuts/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/short-cuts" critics_score: 73 critics_reviews: 9 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Short Cuts (1993): what the critics said Critics' score 73 from 9 reviews: 6 positive, 1 mixed, 2 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Short Cuts, with praise centred on Altman’s handling of a large ensemble and the intricate connections between lives in Los Angeles. The performances are repeatedly admired for their naturalism, while the shifts between comedy and tragedy help the sprawling structure hold together. Several reviews see the adaptation as an imaginative expansion of Raymond Carver’s stories, finding coherence and everyday detail across its many strands. The disagreement concerns emotional involvement and Altman’s attitude towards his characters. Even the favourable Variety review notes condescension and excessive length. The Independent finds the panoramic view intoxicating but the film closed-off, with sourness and sentimentality. The sharper dissent comes from The New Yorker, which finds contrived connections and uniformity, and The Skinny, which argues that the crowded ensemble prevents attachment. The spread is wide: what most critics admire as intricate storytelling, others find imposed or difficult to care about. ## Empire — Angie Errigo Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. Altman delivers a masterful, kaleidoscopic collage of interconnected LA lives drawn from Carver stories, following up The Player with his most complex ensemble piece since Nashville. The three-hour satire of vice and folly is gripping and heady, with a talented cast delivering under his sharp gaze. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/short-cuts-review/) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 8 October 1993. The old lion can still roar with this daring and inventive mosaic that expands Carver's world while remaining true to its spirit, examining ordinary reality through 22 players in a beautiful, intricate chamber piece. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-08-ca-43332-story.html) ## Slant Magazine — Budd Wilkins Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 19 October 2016. The critic highlights the film's sprawling tragicomic exploration of fate, infidelity, and interconnected lives in Los Angeles, drawn from Carver stories, commending its behavioral naturalism and ensemble performances. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/short-cuts/) ## The Guardian — Derek Malcolm Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 3 March 1994. The critic praises Altman's blend of Raymond Carver stories as a powerful and imaginative Nashville for the nineties with an unerring feel for contemporary life. He singles out the superb cast's natural playing and masterstrokes like the opening sequence depicting pre-earthquake Los Angeles. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,,544570,00.html) ## The AV Club — Keith Phipps Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 22 November 2004. The critic praises Altman's adaptation of Carver's stories into a sprawling ensemble film that magnifies the source material through interconnected lives in LA, noting its graceful structure and shifts in tone from comedy to tragedy. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/short-cuts-1798200172) ## Variety — Todd McCarthy Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 13 September 1993. Altman has made his most complex and full-bodied human comedy since Nashville by expanding Carver's stories into an impressively constructed web of plots. The filmmaking mastery, expansion of the source material, and offhandedness impress, though some condescension and length are noted. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1993/film/reviews/altman-s-short-cuts-stands-tall-film-short-cuts-1200433405/) ## The Independent — Adam Mars-Jones Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 4 March 1994. Altman weaves Carver stories into a complex, polyphonic LA mosaic that imposes his own meanings and point of view on the material. The result is a fine but closed-off work with sourness and sentimentality, offering the audience an intoxicating panoramic view that the characters lack. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-life-but-not-as-they-know-it-adam-marsjones-on-short-cuts-robert-altman-s-allstar-adaptation-and-fullscale-appropriation-of-short-stories-by-raymond-carver-1426894.html) ## The New Yorker — Terrence Rafferty Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 20 September 1993. Festival review. Altman uses Carver stories for a radical narrative high-wire act but the result feels thin and homogeneous, with contrived correspondences and a big generalization about men and women. Some performances and one story line stand out positively amid the imposed uniformity. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/09/27/carverville) ## Time Out — GA 13 January 2017. The critic finds Altman's epic multi-story film special from the start, a tragicomic kaleidoscope of interlinked tales focused on couples facing doubts and disasters. Marvellous performances and Altman's masterful direction and narrative organisation are singled out for praise. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/short-cuts) ## The Skinny — Katie Smyth Rating ★★. 5 February 2008. The sprawling ensemble prevents emotional attachment to the characters despite strong performances and an impressive cast. The result is a confusing montage that ultimately fails to engage. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/dvd-reviews/short-cuts) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/short-cuts.md