pretentious drivel

Rating: 3/10 (2 January 2007)

Why has this dreary little piece of suburban angst become such a favorite with so many people? The whole premise is abominable: after losing his job, hen-pecked Kevin Spacey (an actor whose appeal is beyond me) starts buying pot from a high school kid and drooling over his lovely teenage daughter's Lolita-ish friend. What's so hip or revolutionary about working out, listening to classic rock, or smoking pot? Spacey acts like he's in prison (although with his shrewish wife, played by a grating Annette Bening, maybe he is). Then there's the self-hating repressed homosexual Marine Corps colonel, a stereotypical figure played without a shred of subtilty by Chris Cooper. Where's R. Lee Ermey when you need him? Then there's the eponymous "American Beauty." Mena Suvari is no doubt a cute girl, but she's not really beautiful. Thora Birch, the daughter in the film, is far better looking. But there's something creepy about building a whole film around ephebophilia. This is one of the few films I ever bought on DVD that I was unable to watch more than once. I gave it to my cousin for Christmas. Now I have to spend the next twelve months dreading what her payback will be come Yuletide.