A great film.

Rating: Null/10 (7 October 1999)

I read many of these reviews, and what is good is that nobody thought it was just plain (at least in the reviews I read). It shows that it elicited passionate responses. You have on one side the die-hard fans, those who adored it, and on the other side those who fear for those sacred family values. But that is exactly what this film is about. Working your *** off all your life, being recognized only by your outside appearance and enduring humiliations only to please your boss are not family values. What the screenwriter and the director wanted to show is that what is the most important in life is life itself. It may not be the most original subject for a film, but it's a perennial one.
To comment on the movie itself, I'd like to talk about my two favorite scenes. The first is when Col. Fitts goes to Lester thinking he (lester) is sleeping with his son (Ricky). That man is so miserable, when he tries to kiss Spacey's character and realizes he was wrong... It is so heartbreaking, that man trying to confide his gayness into someone. I almost cried at the poignancy of his despair. A lot of "closeted" homosexual persons will be deeply affected, I'm sure.
The second scene is when the young Angela goes to Lester to admire his new muscles. She visibly is in a flirtatious mood, and his very masculine, almost predatory reply frightens her. She was going to torment his middle-aged desire, and he responded like a man sure of himself, not like the pack of hormones of earlier in the film. I thought it was very accurate.