The Most overrated movie of the 90s

Rating: 1/10 (21 February 2002)

I went to see American Beauty with high hopes. At the time it was hotly tipped for Oscar glory and had received fantastic reviews in the US and the UK. This was obviously an ambitious film. It tried to make incisive points about American society, art, beauty and freedom of self-expression. Most of these were bungled. We are supposed to sympathise (or even empathise) with Kevin Spacey's character and yet Annette Bening is a figure of ridicule. Surely her character who is still "trapped" in the materialism of the American dream who is the real victim. If you want to watch a great film with a similar theme, watch Fight Club. Ultimately American Beauty has some funny moments but it is nowhere near the equal of the film that "inspired" it - Sunset Boulevard. For a film that is supposed to be so ground-breaking, American Beauty is far too cliched and far to derivative.