Best Picture? You Must Be Joking!

Rating: 2/10 (6 June 2000)

I went to see this film after watching it dominate the Academy Awards. And my guess is the Academy voters were smoking something. Walking out of the theater after seeing this movie, I felt the same way I did after Pulp Fiction -- What is the big deal? It's an over-the-top satire of life in suburbia with an overwrought mother (wow -- that's original), a crazy, but weak-willed father (wow -- that's original), a disconnected daughter (wow -- that's original), and a deep thinking teen-age guru who films bags floating around (okay -- that is original) -- oh. . .who happens to be the son of a homophobic, ranting and raving militaristic lunatic (wow! not from hollywood?!).
I don't get it. Both The Insider and Cider House Rules are better films than this. Kevin Spacey was wasted (no way was he better than Russell Crowe). Thora Birch needs to keep her shirt on, and Annette Bening needs to move on to something else.
You need to see it because it did win Best Picture for 1999, but be sure to see The Insider and Cider House Rules. Then, you decide which film should have been the best of 1999.