A suburban black comedy with great acting but preposterous ending.

Rating: 8/10 (28 September 1999)

This film has received significant praise especially at the Toronto film festival. Movie has terrific performances from Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening. But the director, Sam Mendes, walks a tightrope between tragedy and comedy, and ultimately ends up with some great acting but a ridiculous ending.
Spacey is going thru a mid-life crisis, loses his job and decides to do some fun things. His wife, Bening, is a want-to-be real estate mogul who is more concerned with couches than family togetherness. Their daughter, Thora Birch, is going thru teen angst, while being pursued by the strange new neighbor's son (Wes Bentley).
For a modern suburban black comedy to work, you have to go all the way ("Serial Mom"), or it has to be really focused ("To Die For"). Trouble here is there are too many subplots. Make no mistake, this is a very funny film. But the film's ending just emphasizes how the film makers were torn between death and laughter.
One of the biggest sub plot errors was to introduce new neighbors for Spacey and Bening. The neighbor's son will play a pivotal role, as well as the father, played by Chris Cooper (who seems destined to play a father of teen boys as in "October Sky"). But by making Cooper a stereotypical Marine colonel, and not giving him any time for character development, it makes the film's dramatic climax seem out of place.
Reason I rated the film as high as I did is due to Bening's over-the-top acting, and Spacey's most complete role to date. 8/10