Entertaining...but Not Much More

Rating: 8/10 (15 March 2001)

Perhaps I'm judging this movie a little unfairly--that is, against the hype and excessive accolades it received rather than against only its own successes and failures. It IS, after all, an entertaining, enjoyable film. But I would not call it a great film. Enough has been said about the great performances--yeah, they're great, but....
It is a message film about middle age, suburban American life, and base materialism. As a message film, though, it is very odd. Lester Burnham,
successful executive, burns out, blackmails his boss, quits his job, and develops the hots for his teenage daughter's best friend.

His shrewish wife, meantime, starts a romp with a local hot shot real estate agent, who turns her on not only to adultery, but to shooting, too, offering the cliched explanation that it makes him feel powerful.
Lester's daughter starts hanging out with the weird, pot-dealing son of the fascistic Marine (yes, THAT old cliche) next door. The boy's father beats the tar out of him routinely, and with particular violence when he suspects his boy might be gay. Not soon after, during a painful scene of misunderstanding that results from the boy assuring his father that he and Lester have been having sex (not true; he said it to hurt his father), the father makes a pass at Lester. Yes, ANOTHER cliche: the Nazi-like homophobe (who actually collects Nazi war relics!) who is really gay himself!

And what about the other messages? That the best way to deal with a difficult marriage, and life's disappointments is to quit your job, start smoking dope, and paw your daughter's friends? Seriously?
The only normal, well-adjusted people in this movie are Lester's gay neighbors (the other neighbors), whom we only briefly meet. I wonder...is this a message, too?