Truly awful

Rating: 2/10 (3 October 1999)

This movie is about a bunch of mental misfits and whiny cry babies who think that if they are not totally happy then they have the absolute right to act in anyway they want no matter the damage it does to others. The main characters all behave in vulgar ways that are not acceptable in any circles I am familiar with.
With a couple of exceptions, the characters are written and performed as caricatures with Annette Benings' portrayal being cartoonish. None of the main characters are likeable in the least and I wouldn't be interested in spending any appreciable amount of time with any of them.
In addition to the above complaints, there is the kiddie porn aspect. Kevin Spacey's character lusts after a high school girl. The actress may be of age but certainly doesn't look it. The actress playing his daughter does a topless scene and she (the actress) was only 16 when the movie was being shot.

Hollywood has made great strides here to advance the anti-family agenda. The most sympathetic characters in order are 1.the gay couple 2. the daughter of the dysfunctional family 3. the family man, who hasn't been invested in his family for 20 years and suddenly chucks everything so he can work out to get in shape to impress a teenager and smoke pot 4. the boy next door who secretly tapes everything and everyone and makes a tidy sum selling pot.
The least sympathetic characters are the Marine Colonel who is shown as a brutish, self-loathing gay and the wife of the man in midlife crisis who is shown as a cartoonish real estate broker.
This movie stinks to high heaven. I rated it a 2 only because it had a couple of funny lines that made me laugh before I started disliking it.