Lynch for the masses

Rating: 1/10 (10 April 2005)

A film that steals ideas from David Lynch's Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks can't be a bad thing, right? Well, under Sam Mendes's stiff, theatrical direction it's plain wrong. Alan Ball has written a poor man's Blue Velvet and it's an insult to see such praise heaped upon this unoriginal work. The film already feels dated and pompous - even Desperate Housewives is better than this pseudo-intellectual tosh. And that leads me to my next critique. American Beauty is really a TV drama series masquerading as a film. There is no sense of cinema in Mendes's by numbers direction, save the quasi- Lynchian dream-like 'after death' prologue and epilogue which now feels strained and unimaginative.
Kevin Spacey as Lester Bunham is as languid as they come and it baffles me the praise he received in his undernourished performance. In contrast, Annette Bening as his wife gives an overstated performance that lacks subtlety and depth. Mind you, the script doesn't allow much depth for the characters because they are too busy adhering to prescribed stereotypes.
Worse still, the film has a dubious moral agenda. Painting Burham as a sympathetic anti-hero is not what the film does well- his attempt to seduce an underage girl is glossed over as if it doesn't matter. Ball lacks the moral courage to question the ethical judgments Burnham makes. A for the symbolism, it belongs in a cartoon book such is its simplicity.
This is quite an insulting film. It's as bad as any other Oscar winner. Multiplex fare for those who want to think sometimes - Lynch for the masses.