Overrated, pretentious, clichéd, disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (4 July 2000)

If this was the Best Picture of 1999... well then I don't feel bad about missing so many movies. What an incredibly overrated movie!
What's good about it? Well, there's some good acting (I'll watch Kevin Spacey in just about anything). The cinematography is nice. But neither is enough reason to watch a movie in my book.
The script is full of clichés (dark side of sterile suburbia, empty lives, misunderstood teenagers, etc.). The characters are one-dimensional. There were parts of a good movie in it, but they're buried in everything else. It was also a surprisingly tasteless movie. The show-offy interludes that Spacey's character experiences are initially interesting but then become tiresome. The whole thing suffers from a major case of self-importance.
I'm truly mystified by those who feel this is An Important Movie that comments on U.S. society. I'm even more mystified by anyone who finds it humorous. Why it's #2 on the Top 250 list as I write this is beyond me, but that will drop over time.
In case you're wondering about my taste, yes, I do enjoy a dramatic movie that makes me think. But I didn't gain any great insight from "American Beauty." At least I didn't pay money to see it, but I still lost two hours that I'll never get back.