it makes me want to cry. I mean the hype, not the movie

Rating: 1/10 (29 December 1999)

This movie is not nearly as great as everyone makes it out to be. The symbolism is contrived and clumsy. The characters are too stereotyped. The ending is too predictable. And before you shout "Blah blah, that's because they say at the beginning what happens to the main character! You're supposed to know, etc. etc." I don't mean that said character's situation at the end of the movie is predictable. I mean that the events leading directly up to it (in the last 20 minutes or so) are predictable. But the thing that bugs me most is this: the movie deals with themes and subject matter similar to those in The Ice Storm. If you haven't seen The Ice Storm, the acting, characters and story are fantastic. It does what American Beauty tries to do, only it does it with much more style and grace. But most people haven't even heard of it because it wasn't mainstream