Pretentious film that `borrows' from "The Ice Storm"......

Rating: 1/10 (8 August 2000)

The first time I saw the film , it gave me a feeling of being a pretentious film that `borrows' a little from "The Ice Storm", in its theme of being a film of a dysfunctional family.
The worst part about the film is it leads viewers to think that its the insight of the average American Mid-Life crisis.
I thought the part about the lame red plastic bag floating was `beautiful' , was only a bad pun at how `Beauty' is perceived to be only visually satisfying , as with most of the shots of young , naked actresses.
Teen movies are bad enough but why is an `art' film exploiting Lolita-obsessions ? I thought that the "Ice Storm" was more true-to-life in dealing with the topic of sexual awakening among teens. SPOILER ALERT Its black-comedy premise also presented mixed reactions on why the retired Army Colonel would offer himself to Lester Burnham - was he a wife-battering gay too ? Or was he trying to redeem his son and to seek closure on his overly strict upbringing of him.
If a movie doesn't have a specific direction for leading audiences, it will only make a pretentious film and incurring from the movie's title, it is only skin-deep in narrative and beautiful visually.