Don't believe the hype. Look closer. Angst lite.

Rating: 4/10 (15 February 2000)

Emperor's new clothes.
A film set in suburbia made by people who've never lived there. A film that would love to be an early 70's Bob Rafelson movie with Jack Nicholson but it comes nowhere near. If you don't know what I'm talking about watch "Five Easy Pieces".
Characters do things because the scriptwriter says so and to get a laugh. Does that look like a family to you? These people look live they've never even met.
Kevin Spacey isn't very good. This is a troubled man? I don't think so. He brings nothing to the film (again compare with early Nicholson, whose characters looked like they had a past, even if you never knew the details). Spacey looks like a man who has just turned up for a few days shooting. He plays a man who wants to be good at being mildly sarcastic to people.
The end? The message. A guy's brains on a table can be beautiful. A plastic bag blowing in the wind can be beautiful. Look closer. You've been had, sucker.