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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 16504
Released: March 13, 2001 |
| Our Price: $4.10 |
| Used Price: $1.20 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
When a lawyer's (Kevin Kline) car breaks down in a dangerous Los Angeles neighborhood, a tow-truck driver (Danny Glover) arrives just in time to save his life. The two men begin a deep friendship that sets off a chain of unsettling and surprising events involving their families and friends for years to come. Lawrence Kasdan's powerful, uplifting film about the harsh realities of contemporary urban life co-stars Steve Martin, Mary McDonnell, Mary-Louise Parker and Alfre Woodard.
Description of Grand Canyon:
This murky rumination on keeping faith in our troubled times was an early sign that writer-director Lawrence Kasdan (Silverado) was losing his once-powerful grasp on the art of storytelling. Set in modern Los Angeles--with all its random violence, venality, ubiquitous police presence, earthquakes, and dreams--the film concerns an unusual intersection of lives and chance occurrences that alter everyone's perspective on destiny. Kasdan, very understandably, is attempting to create an experience for viewers as intuitive as the undefined forces propelling his characters. But from the outside looking in, there isn't enough internal logic in the story to help us connect the dots. Steve Martin has an interesting part as a garish film producer who undergoes a change in priorities after being assaulted on the street. --Tom Keogh
Grand Canyon Reviews:
Misunderstood? 
2009-10-01 - I've read a lot of negative reviews about this film, but I absolutely love it. Can't really tell you why - the music, the characters, the way all the characters mesh, the storyline. I also happen to love a few of these actors - Keven Kline, Steve Martin and Danny Glover, people who always make a film enjoyable for me, no matter what surrounds them. I guess I just want to say, if you've read a few negative reviews, please be aware that not everybody hates this film. You may want to give it a try, and you may actually enjoy it.
it's all about recognizing opportunities
2009-09-06 - The people who are blasting this film in their reviews as being pretentious are missing the whole point. The specific events in the movie are just examples - the movie is about the fact that all of us have opportunities presented to us all the time, and we can either grab them or let them pass by. The scene where Kevin Kline is teaching his son to make a left-hand turn in LA traffic is an in-your-face metaphor for this whole theme.
The Mary-Louise Parker character's story is an illustration of the flip side - she gets stopped by a cute, sympathetic cop, and our collective knowledge of movie romance says this is it, he's the perfect guy for her, but she fumbles the ball and lets the opportunity pass without grabbing it (or even recognizing that it's happening).
Don't get too caught up by whether the events in the movie seem 100% realistic (it is only a movie, after all) - just let the movie inspire you to think about the opportunities that come and go in your own life, and how the choices you make about them affect subsequent events in your life.
I want those two hours of my life back. 
2008-12-01 - I saw this movie in the theatre with some friends when it first came out. We barely made it through this train wreck without walking out. I immediately considered it to be among the worst movies I'd ever seen. How gratifying to see that many professional critics had the same sentiments. Long, boring, pretentious, PC, etc., etc. A torturous waste of time.
Still A Great Movie
2008-12-01 - The movie Grand Canyon is still one of the most under-rated of all time. I just watched it again this evening for the first time in several years and it still hits home like a shot to the stomach. The actors (Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, Steve Martin) are phenomenal. Lawrence Kasdan tries to make sense of the world in a way that leaves you thinking for months after watching this movie. I originally saw this movie in the theaters when it was first released and it still, possibly more so, makes its point about all humans and their actions being intertwined with each other and how much we have in common is as important as our differences between one another.
A thought-provoking movie at its core, Grand Canyon is truly a great movie.
Saw the movie again after 17 years 
2008-10-28 - Saw the movie again today. I did enjoy how the stories intersected. No matter what you think we are not islands. We do influence each other for good or for bad. I am not used to R rated movies anymore so the F-bombs and profanity was very offputting. The thing that I can reccomend without reservation is the soundtrack. It was still as awesome to the story as I remember. Put that on your i-pod and crank up the Bose speakers. Phenonmenal!
