Astonishingly overrated

Rating: 6/10 (26 July 2005)

That this is among the IMDb's top-rated movies of all time is . . . very sad. Ahead of Apocalypse Now? Ahead of Vertigo and To Kill a Mockingbird? Right. It's a nice movie, better than halfway-decent even. But Top 50? To quote Mr. Taggart, I am depressed. If I hear another person (likely a Dr. Phil fan) tell me how "profound" they found the movie, I'm going to puke.
I expect that in 25 years, films like Memento, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, and The Usual Suspects will continue to make top-films lists and will become classics. I expect American Beauty to be largely forgotten by then. It certainly will be by me.