most overrated film ever

Rating: 2/10 (29 October 2001)

I will always remember American beauty to be one of the most overrated films i have ever seen. i perfect example of how to win an academy award through aggressive marketing, and totally undeserving. It claims to be a black comedy, but it isnt funny (try fight club instead) and is basically dead boring. It is provocative (if that's what you call 'bending the conventions' as many reviewers mentioned), but this doesn't make it a good story - it makes it seem ridiculous. Kevin Spacey as usual is brilliant, making the best of an awful story, and Annette Bening is totally excessive. The other actors are nothing to write home about, except the boy next door (forget the actors name) who has some screen presence, but his character seems to confuse this. All in all, overrated garbage. You want provocative, black comedy questioning social values? Fight Club. Its a definitive class above