Dog poo, photographed beautifully

Rating: 3/10 (13 March 2000)

The moral of the story: suburban life in America is horrible, but if you can get enough sex and drugs, you might just be able to get by.
That seems to be the logical conclusion to this depiction of a bunch of total losers where the most positive (or I should say "least negative") character is a drug dealer.
Dad hates his job and ignores his family. Mom is obsessed by her job and ignores her family. Sis is a miserable teenager who thinks a boob job will solve all her problems. Next-door neighbor is an ex-Marine psycho with an autistic wife and a weird son (that's the drug dealer). And Sis's best friend is a nympho.
Are we really supposed to be able to learn anything from these people other than "Try your darndest not to be like them?" It seemed like a total waste of time and money to me. After it was over, I snuck down the hall to another theater to watch the latter part of GALAXY QUEST, just to get the bad taste out of my mouth.
That being said, this is an extraordinarily well-done movie from a technical viewpoint: the directing and acting are superb. But as far as I'm concerned it's not enough to redeem this movie: no matter how well you photograph doggie poo or how beautifully it glistens in the sun, it's still doggie poo.