See This Film.

Rating: 9/10 (30 September 1999)

This is a great film. Give the Oscar to Spacey, and probably one to Bening.

This is a hard film to categorize. I'm reminded of Princess Bride, not a similar film, but a film that was also hard to promote because it wasn't just one kind of movie. I didn't know much about the film when I went, but was put off by the only plot line I knew, that a middleage dad falls in love with his daughter's friend. That never dominates the film, fortunately. As Spacey is swept away by his personal life changes, the question of will he or won't he make it with the daughter's friend is put on the back shelf for most of the film.
This is a completely wonderful film, but it left me wondering something. Virtually everybody's life in this movie is destroyed. It leaves the viewer to speculate how each character left standing will adapt. Why, then, did I have such a feeling of wonder about it? In many ways, it's Ordinary People with laughs. It works because Spacey shows how somebody can find himself after years in a wasteland. Wes Bentley, the boy next door, has a gift for seeing the beauty in all things, and for feeling a connection with the flow of the universe. The film shows us those gifts, and that's part of its success.
The movie also shows on a subtle plane the power of the spoken word. There's this idea that anything we say is broadcast to the mystical universe, then created for us if our intention or power is strong enough. There's a point in the film when Spacey says he will frame the company's management evaluator, Brad, for sexual misconduct. Later in the film, it is Spacey who is framed for sexual misconduct, as seen by the retired Marine colonel. Similarly, Spacey's daughter wants her dad dead, Wes Bentley offers to do it, and even though they both agree it isn't something they really want, conditions are changed just enough to create that reality.

I hope this film gets the Oscars, but it's dark and risky. I admire the cast for putting so much into this film, knowing that when they entered the project. You can't run ads for it as a feel good movie, but I left the theater wanting to see a plastic bag being whipped around by the wind.