Reviews

This movie made my heart wrench by its honesty, I sat transfixed throughout all of it, mainly by the extraordinary talent of Bjork, she is just utterly AMAZING and I never considered myself a real fan of hers before this, but I'm sold on her now.

Peoples' gripes about the hand-held camera and such made me want to scream, but all that aside, Lars Von Trier's style is admirable, the dance musical scenes were astounding and were fabricated believably to show us Selma's refuge from the harshness of reality. Von Trier seems to revel in his heroines (see also Bess in the knockout film Breaking the Waves) whose goodness and selflessness cannot be understood by society, but I hope that it won't become a standard with him. But he does employ an astonishing array of actors and actresses in all his films. Catherine Deneuve fans will be treated here, David Morse fans will feel no doubt feel frustrated at the lack of screen time and character development that he's given, but it's nice to see this fine actor in any film, my wife certainly loves to see him, especially the shot where he's painting the wall and we get a glimpse of a well-muscled arm that sent her into a frenzy, sheesh!

But if you can approach this film in the right frame of mind, congratulate yourself for it and be prepared to marvel in the vast talent that is Bjork's.

Of all Robert Altman's films, this one is the best, in my mind. Meaning it stood out the most for me and it still feels so fresh after all this time, like most of Altman's films anyway.

Even if you don't care for this director's films, watch it just for the marvelous chemistry between George Segal and Elliott Gould, two outstanding actors, and for those who want to see how real improvisation is done, watch closely how Elliott Gould does it in this movie, I guarantee you've never seen anything like it before or since. I was shaking my head in amazement at such talent, wow!

An enjoyable film, funny as hell, but pitiful, too.