Movie · 1991 · Drama, Crime, Comedy · 2h 14m · R · English
Curator score: 4.0/10 (24.1K ratings)
Overview
Grand Canyon revolved around six residents from different backgrounds whose lives intertwine in modern-day Los Angeles. At the center of the film is the unlikely friendship of two men from different races and classes brought together when one finds himself in jeopardy in the other's rough neighborhood.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.0/10
IMDb: 6.9/10
Letterboxd: 3.27/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 79%
Metacritic: 64
TMDB: 6.4/10
Director
Lawrence Kasdan
Production
20th Century Fox
Cast
Danny Glover, Kevin Kline, Steve Martin, Mary McDonnell, Mary-Louise Parker, Alfre Woodard, Jeremy Sisto, Tina Lifford, Patrick Malone, Sarah Trigger, Randle Mell, Destinee DeWalt, Candace Mead, Lauren Mead, Shaun Baker, K. Todd Freeman, Deon Sams, Christopher M. Brown, Gregg Dandridge, Branscombe Richmond
Curator Review
Verdict
A thoughtful, very 1990s Los Angeles ensemble drama with strong ideas, an appealing cast, and a sincere interest in race, class, fear, and human connection. It’s worth watching if you’re interested in prestige dramas about urban life and cross-cultural encounters, but some viewers will find its issue-driven approach, earnestness, and dated social perspective uneven.
Best for
fans of ensemble dramas about interconnected lives
viewers interested in early-90s Los Angeles as a setting
people who like earnest social-issue filmmaking
fans of character-driven dramas with crime tension
Skip if
you want a fast, tightly plotted crime thriller
you’re sensitive to dated or clumsy race-relations writing
you dislike earnest prestige dramas
you prefer films with a more modern, self-aware tone
Overview
Grand Canyon is a sincere, ambitious ensemble film that treats Los Angeles as both a physical maze and a moral one. Lawrence Kasdan is interested in how strangers collide, how privilege and fear shape behavior, and how a random act of violence can expose the fault lines in a city. The result is uneven, but it has real intelligence and a strong sense of place.
Worth noting
The movie’s biggest strength is its cast, which gives the material warmth and texture even when the script leans heavily on themes. It plays like a time capsule of early-90s anxieties: urban danger, class resentment, media cynicism, and the hope that empathy can still bridge the gap between people who would otherwise never meet.
Bottom line
Some of the race and social commentary now feels blunt or dated, and the film can be a little too pleased with its own significance. Still, it’s more interesting than its reputation suggests, and it has enough craft, atmosphere, and human feeling to reward viewers who like their dramas earnest and sprawling.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Allison M. 🌱 (3.5★) · 80 likes
A masterful piece written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Right after Paris Hilton's prison sentence, she claimed she was going to go to Rwanda to volunteer. That never happened. A character in this movie undergoes a similar revelation, only to completely forget about his promise months later. Kasdan knew about the way people thought and how they were motivated. There is a funny/scary scene, where a father is teaching his son how to drive in traffick-ridden L.A. Recommended for all.
I put this off for years because I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. Crash seems like a cheap rip-off.
Joe Lynch (3★) · 68 likes
What a strange time capsule of a movie.
It looks and feels almost like someone wanted to make an Oscar Movie in the fictional Los Angeles depicted in 80’s action movies like LETHAL WEAPON or DIE HARD, complete with a “Joel Silver” character too.
Amazing ensemble likely hoping they would be in an awards movie.
“Evil” Steve Martin is a trip.
Also has anyone noticed Kevin Kline and Steve Martin have the SAME voice?!
There are moments that have NOT aged well, especially the race-relation stuff.
A VERY 90’s movie about White People Problems in “Scary, Shitty” Los Angeles.
Sean Fennessey (2.5★) · 56 likes
What the hell, man?
Neary (formerly BestVista) (4★) · 44 likes
One of the key problems with movie violence is that it's just that - movie violence. Violence used in the service of plot motivation, a vessel for emotional catharsis, or to resolve a character arc. So one of the most striking things about the random street mugging of movie producer Davis (Steve Martin) in Lawrence Kasdan's 'Grand Canyon' is that it so sharply swerves away from any of those tropes. And is all the more shocking and impactful for being… more One of the key problems with movie violence is that it's just that - movie violence. Violence used in the service of plot motivation, a vessel for emotional catharsis, or to resolve a character arc. So one of the most striking things about the random street mugging of movie producer Davis (Steve Martin) in Lawrence Kasdan's 'Grand Canyon' is that it so sharply swerves away from any of those tropes. And is all the more shocking and impactful for being… more
Filipe Furtado (2.5★) · 35 likes
Prestige movies that time forgot can be a fascinating genre. Today's example, Lawrence Kasdan's "the world is going to shit, but people can connect with each other," LA opus Grand Canyon, which somehow won the 1992 Golden Bear (let's just say the jury had choices), got a best script Oscar nom and lots of good critical reviews. It is so issue-heavy enough that it nearly ends with a Joel Silver-type producer reenacting the end of Sullivan Travels, complete with telling… more Prestige movies that time forgot can be a fascinating genre. Today's example, Lawrence Kasdan's "the world is going to shit, but people can connect with each other," LA opus Grand Canyon, which somehow won the 1992 Golden Bear (let's just say the jury had choices), got a best script Oscar nom and lots of good critical reviews. It is so issue-heavy enough that it nearly ends with a Joel Silver-type producer reenacting the end of Sullivan Travels, complete with telling… more