A honest look at the true life

Rating: 10/10 (26 January 2010)

Of course I heard about this praised and many awards-winning movie before is saw it, so I was curious about seeing it to find out whether it is worth it's high rating. And as I nearly expected, it's worth it.
After a short foreshadowing on one of the most telling scenes of the film, the action begins with an overview on the ordinary life of Lester Burnham, the main character, who tells his story from his own grave. He is a 42-year old add-writer who is bored and annoyed of his life. His wife Carolyn, a very stressed and dainty career-addict and his daughter Jane, a highly depressed and ordinary teenager can not change his view on his life either, they only make his life even worse in his eyes.
His coma-like perception of his life changes all of a sudden when he gets to meet his daughter's sexy and willing friend Angela, who makes Lester get foolishly obsessed with her. Driven by his will to attract her, Lester begins to change his life by starting to work-out, quitting his job and go back to his teenage roots, which means smoking pot and while listening to rock music.
But Lester is not the only character who changes his life and mind during the film. All the characters go through an interesting development of character traits, so do Carolyn and Jane, and even the weird neighbor family of a freaky Boy called Ricky and a brutal and cold military man who is his father.
Sam Mendes really knew how to make this movie a brilliant one. The character's development is worked out very well. The way to their change of mind is understandable and surprising at the same time. The environment they life in really seems to show the reality of the "normal" American everyday life who sometimes tries to get one down, and the movie shows the way the characters try to fight against it.
So what is left at the surprising end of the amazingly profound movie is the realization that everything is not what it seems.