American UGLY

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 2003)

I'll be honest to admit that I didn't watch the whole movie, but I tried - oh God, how I tried. But I found myself counting down the minutes on my DVD player, waiting for something INTERESTING to happen. I set a deadline of twenty five minutes from the start of the movie before I would turn it off. Around the twenty minute mark the beautiful, young, sassy, pott-smoking cheerleader makes her appearance. And the depressed, near-middle-age father of the cheerleader's best friend falls for her. Gee, what an original idea. Oh, but don't think that that was the movie's only clever, original idea. There was also the gay, next door couple who expects to be treated just like everyone else. And of course, there has to be a gay couple antagonist - in the form of a disciplinarian, homophobic military veteran. So, patiently I waited for more interesting characters or dialogue or situation plot or ANYTHING to show up. [I still had five minutes] But instead, cliche after cliche permeated this movie - the floundering real-estate-agent wife, the morbid teenage daughter, the handsome but creepy boy next door. I found myself finishing the characters' lines well before they did.
The acting was average, which is what to be expected from a movie of this type.
With all the accolades and praise this movie received, this is definitely one of those movies you will want to slit your wrist with the thin edge of your movie stub - as you sit there and wonder what the hell all the fuss was about. Oh, one more thing, you'll have to use the thin edge of the DVD disk to do your cutting, as this movie is [thank God] no longer in the theaters.