A middle-aged man, who's soul is slowly being drained by his dull suburban life, is reawakened by his lust for his daughter's teenage friend.

Rating: Null/10 (21 September 1999)

"Look Closer" the trailer quietly teased moviegoers for months. Well, last night I did---and I loved what I saw. I had high expectations going in to see this movie. As I had read in the various movie magazines: It's an Oscar contender, Spielberg claims its the best movie he's seen in years, first-rate cinematography, yada yada yada, blah blah blah, so on and so forth. Drama has never been my cup of tea. I never bought into the whole "Shakespeare In Love" hype--a movie that most people claim to love, but rarely go see a second time. And, I thought the Ice Storm was boring. The Piano? Give me a break. Well this time, I have to say I was won over. Like the others, in a packed theater in LA, I was surprised at the in your face comedy and the larger than life characters. Kevin Spacey was sensational, Mena Suvari a dream come true, and a cast that's just first-rate. It's an incredible script made by a director who knows what he's doing. But, the film's not for everyone. At certain points of the movie, I can see how some people who were raised on Disney Films could be deeply offended by the subject matter. I wasn't. After sitting through countless movies this summer where I could pretty much predict the turning points, crisis/climax, and the cookie-cutter resolution, I was dying for something... I dunno fresh, well-thought out, really good...

If you want to see something safe, go see Runaway Bride, but if you want something absorbing and just flat out funny then this is one for you. My final analysis of the film: It's flat out the best movie of the year--I'm saying this keeping Sixth Sense and Bowfinger in mind, which will also go down as some of the great films in cinematic history.