Mostly not good, but some parts are great.

Rating: 6/10 (25 August 2006)

I loved four of the eleven vignettes: "Cousins", "Jack Shows Meg His Tesla Coil", "Cousins?" and "Champagne". I got nothing from the other seven vignettes. I feel that the film would have been splendid if those seven had been deleted. I would rate the whole movie at 60% but those four vignettes, alone, at 90%.
The best vignette, in my opinion, is "Cousins"; Cate and her cousin Shelley have nothing in common but, since they are cousins, they try to make meaningful conversation. It is a great study in motivation; each time I see it, I understand more about why the characters do and say what they do and say, as well as how they do and say it.
"Jack Shows Meg His Tesla Coil" portrays a naive, almost childlike, young man who believes that he is very knowledgeable about technical matters, but everyone else seems to know more than he does. He cannot even keep his wagon wheels from squeaking.
"Cousins?" shows two semi-famous men, one of whom is very excited about his discovery that they are cousins; the other could not care less but tries, very ineptly, not to show it. His sleaziness and vanity create an ironic twist at the end.
"Champagne" is simply a delightful, rambling, sometimes surreal conversation about many topics, one of those topics being my own personal favourite song. It is a perfect ending for a very unique film.
The acting and scripts for these four vignettes are brilliant and subtle. I would recommend that you rent the movie and watch just those four vignettes first, to guarantee a very positive experience. Then watch the whole movie to see if there are any other parts that you enjoy and to see the four great vignettes again; I believe that you will see greater depths in them on the second viewing.