Huh?! THIS piece of dreck won the Oscar??

Rating: 6/10 (17 December 2000)

Joke, right?
Nahh, it's no joke, this one won the lions share of glory at the Oscars this year. Why? Because A: it has some really good acting, esp. Spacey's, B: Hollywood Hates regular family life and would Love to consider such a crappy picture of it to be Real, when it is anything BUT, and C: Three Kings was better and got shafted.
I don't Hate this thing, but-gimme a break. This is another typical Hollywood screed against the regular American family ala Blue Velvet, the Ice Storm, etc which tries REAL hard to be a 'realistic portrait', when in reality it's about as accurate as yer average episode of 'Dallas', 'Barney' or 'Sanford and Son'(Personally I'd go with Fred Sanford myself...).
Everyone is neurotic, shrill, a fake or doomed. No one is like the average regular fellers you and I grew up with, went to school with or are related to(well, not All of them anyways...)..I fail to see what great truths we have here. People get mid-life crisises when they are in their 40s at times. Yeah, so? People have marital problems, sometimes they screw around on each other. And? Teenagers, some anyways, lie about how much sex they've had, or do drugs, or hate their folks. Yeah, this was true in 1958, '66, 76, '88 and it will be true 50 years from now. What is the great point here?
I took away nothing from this save that Spacey, Bening, Cooper and co are all fine actors, though I preferred Cooper in 'Lonestar' and Bening always has the same affect on me as Carol Burnette-the teeth get to hurting after too much exposure.
The blonde gal was cute but way too Alicia Silverstone/Kirsten Dunst/blonde of the month for me to notice much. I liked Thora Birch's Christina Ricci turn though.
Personally, I am Very glad I only rented this one for 3 bucks, anything more and I woulda walked outta the theatre half ways.
**1/2 max from me. Three Kings was better. So was the Mummy. FOOO!(foo)