A flawed film, that could have been a masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (28 July 2001)

WARNING SPOILERS!
This stunning portrait of American malaise could have been so much more. As it stands it is a series of outstanding vignettes (the opening, Benning's character's attempt to sell the house, the reading of Spacy's character's letter to his employer, the ludicrious "real-estate sex scene", the drive-thru confrontation and the toy car, "I rule" exchange) within a discursive mess. The homosexual and poetic/social outcast side-plots come across as gratutiious. Especially ridiculous is the percieved gay oral sex scene, complete with a conviently placed window pane and contrived positions (something like this was funny in "Something About Mary", but it doesn't work here, because it is not meant to be funny). If the objective of the homosexual incidents was to somehow juxtapose them with Lester Burnam's prurient escapades they fail miserably. This film works best when it focuses on the theme of suburban ennui. There are three stories here and infusing them all was a mistake.

Bottom line, some great scenes with an convoluted story.