Was that it?

Rating: 7/10 (3 February 2002)

With as much acclaim as this movie enjoyed, it should have been much better,
Most of the writing and acting was somewhere beyond thoughtful, usually approaching preachy and heavy-handed, What's more, we are never given any chance to feel any sympathy for the neighbor. He is dumb, violent and aggressive, and that's apparently all he needs to be (despite the "higher perspective" narration).
Maybe calling it _American_Beauty_ was the problem; _Suburban_Beauty_ might have given viewers a better sense of what was coming... and Americans who are not suburbanites won't stare at the movie befuddled and wondering what bearing it has on their lives.