Kevin Spacey deserved it, the movie did not..

Rating: Null/10 (18 May 2000)

That's it, I don't understand the Academy and its decision making processes. Did anyone see Fight Club? A similar film in its examination of our shallow wants & needs hitting hard reality - maybe the violence was too much or its message too anti-media to get similar attention. I learned nothing new in American Beauty - middle-aged men's issues with homophobia, guns or teenage nymphets? Please...
Kevin Spacey was great, Annette Benning was good if a bit shrill - and I liked the presentation of discontented teens looking for a real life. It didn't make me think or feel much, though. Fight Club did. Isn't that the point?