Doing for Los Angeles what he did for Nashville, Robert Altman rediscovers the sprawling, evocative, patchwork magnificence of his previous, mid-70s peak in this loose compendium of tales largely based on the short stories of Raymond Carver. Seemingly disparate, as these tales of marital discord, familial disconnect and existential doubt unfold in languid, offbeat style, they intertwine. Carver's stories were set in the Pacific Midwest, but take on new symbolism against LA's cloudless blue skies and swimming pools, an idyll symbolically tainted by helicopters spraying insecticide and the constant threat of a geological event. An impeccable ensemble cast including Tom Waits, Tim Robbins, Chris Penn, Jack Lemmon, Andie MacDowell, Lily Tomlin and Julianne Moore give authentic life to incidental players in an ongoing melodrama that speaks loudly of the modern malaise. Profound, involving and blackly funny in places, such as when Anne Archer's party clown is stopped by a traffic cop.

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.