Bit of an odd one this, apparently Altman was unwell at the time and even had to have a heart transplant later, so maybe he was not fully focused. Much time and effort has been spent on period cars and costumes and street decoration but ultimately it is all maybe too shiny and bright. The plot is simple and uninteresting even if early on made unnecessarily complicated with flash backs that don't look like flash backs. And then there is Jennifer Jason Leigh who can be excellent with the occasional tendency to over do things. Here she is abominable and I cannot imagine what Altman was thinking of to allow it or encourage it. Either way her nutcase performance ruins the film and were it not for the music I would have switched off very early on. The jazz, however, is fine. There is much footage of what looks like one big jam session and the music permeates the film throughout helping enormously. I'm tempted to suppose it was the jazz that came first and the film built loosely around it but if it doesn't enable you to ignore Leigh's performance, it does at least help.
Review of Kansas City
