After seeing some of the so-called "best" films of 2004, what a treat to watch this touching, funny, completely unpredictable film. One of Altman's very best--certainly one of Gould's and Segal's very best performances. It's also the last screen appearance of the enchanting Barbara Ruick (whose best known performance was as Carrie in the movie version of Carousel--she sings the song about "Mr. Snow"--she was married to film composer John Williams)--she plays the delightful barmaid in the Reno gambling joint, and Altman dedicates the film to her. The characters--even the ones who appear very briefly--are so fleshed out, they are completely believable. Altman takes the genre of the gambling movie, in which there usually can be only a happy ending or a sad one, and completely explodes it. I wish Clint Eastwood had watched it before he tried to do a boxing movie, which has the same generic problem.
Review of California Split
