overly praised film saturated with symbolism

Rating: 7/10 (19 July 2002)

The visually stunning debut film of director Sam Mendes came in a year when films looked like they were produced off the back of a Hollywood truck. In the midst of all the awful films, American Beauty, a good film, seemed to be the savior both of Dreamworks and Hollywood. I think this was why the film received so much attention...simply because all the other films released were terrible. But next to the likes of Michael Mann's "The Insider" and Norman Jewison's "The Hurricane," American Beauty's cast of anti-heroes falls short.
Alright, enough about me complaining, now I'll say why. Mendes and Conrad Hall (cinematographer) seemed to have an infatuation with the color red and its ties to passion-hatred-and just about every emotion associated with the heated color. But instead of letting this hue subtly infect the audience and the film as well, they seemd to use it as a bat; hitting the audience over the head with its symbolism and screaming, "IT'S SYMBOLIC! DO YOU GET IT! IT'S SYMBOLIC!" This relentless pelting removed me from the film and made me angry with it because I was not allowed to view the film on my own terms. I was told where and when to look at certain things (I will remain vague so that I will not reveal any plot to those who still wish to view the movie) and then told what to think about them. My other problem with the film is the antihero. A useful tool in films like Nolan's "Memento" and Aldrich's "Kiss Me Deadly," the antihero is supposed to be an average person who does some bad things to try to do good and manages to draw sympathy from the audience. However, because of all the truly awful deeds committed by the characters in American Beauty, I had no sympathy for any of them. **************Spoilers coming...you have the jist of my feelings...do NOT read of you don't want spoilers******************* When Kevin Spacey's character, Lester Burnahm, ends up dead I did not care. I wanted him dead because he was sexually obsessed with a young teen. And his wife cheats on him, so when she feels miserable, I dont feel for her either. Every character has some major flaw like this: whore, drug-dealer, raging depressive, homophobe. Because I could not connect to any character and simply did not care what happened to them on top of being told what to think about nearly every scene, I refuse to praise this film as everyone else does.
One more quick note: I must say that this is still a good film. It is not a great film.
I would also recommend:
Road to Perdition (a much better collaboration with Mendes and Hall); Muholland Drive; Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain; Forrest Gump