Kansas City: Robert Altman’s mosaic-like homage to his birth city neglects most of the characters in the tale, and the ones it focuses on are not engaging characters, making this film a bit of  a slog to watch. A young woman kidnaps a doped socialite as an effort to have her small-time crook husband to be released from a mobster. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays the young woman with a good deal of annoying mugging, but she would not be easy to root for the way the character was written, in any case. Miranda Richardson is the socialite, and for the most part she is just a lethargic prop, essentially. Harry Belafonte plays the most interesting of the characters, a cruel and garrulous music-loving mobster. One area that is not neglected is the jazz, even if it has no bearing whatsoever in the story; the music is incredible and well-shot. The recreation of 1930s Kansas City is pretty good, even if the costumes of designer Dona Granata and the art of production designer Stephen Altman are a bit too pristine. Cinematographer Oliver Stapleton captures it all elegantly.