The colorfully eccentric, often salty and irascible gamblers at various casinos and racetracks (and at least one boxing match) set the tone for this Robert Altman-directed drama about two gambling addicts and buddies who chase the cards-and-craps games from Los Angeles to Reno. Elliott Gould is the pie-eyed dreamer, a guy who can bet on horses all day and play poker all night (life is a party for him, even when he loses); George Segal shares similar qualities but is deep in debt and on a downward spiral. The acrid milieu is wonderfully vivid, and the sideline characters who supply the overlapping voices and funny bits of business are as important to that milieu as are the stars. There really isn't much of a story, though the episodes are fun when tempers don't flare up too high (there are a few ugly encounters, and one robbery too many). Joseph Walsh is credited with writing the screenplay (and reportedly collaborated on an early draft of the script with his friend, Steven Spielberg), yet one gets the feeling much of this dialogue is personality and director-driven. If so, Walsh got the last laugh with a WGA nomination for Best Original Comedy.
Review of California Split
