Overrated, but pretty good

Rating: 7/10 (25 October 1999)

I just think that too many people are making too big a deal about this film. Sure, Spacey is great, as usual, but was there really anything that original about the characters? A father on a mid-life crisis (something so common there is a NAME for it), a mother who defines herself through work, both trying too hard to be a part of their daughter's life, their daughter trapped in suburbia, a pretty girl who's insecure, a hard-line patroit who turns out to be sort of gay, his submissive wife, and of course the two gay guys. Did I leave anybody out? (other than minor characters, all stereotypical themselves) These type of people are ones I have seen every day of my life, and feel that many others have, too.
But still, it does hit you on an emotional level, and I like that. That nightmare of modern life, the empty lies we tell to everyone else, and even ourselves, need to be expressed in art, and often. With some characters that I haven't seen before, it might have been a classic. 7/10