Don't Understand

Rating: 6/10 (23 April 2011)

I'll will go ahead and say that I think there a lot of films out there (not just films but books as well) that I perceive as being "faux" deep. American Beauty is just this kind of film. The premise I thought to be a pretty typical premise, the main theme I thought to be a pretty typical main theme, the characters and acting I thought to be pretty typical. In the end though, the thing that turned me away from it was the execution. I just thought everything about this movie was soooo cookie cutter. For example, we took a break in the middle of the movie (I was watching it with friends) and they all started to talk about how cool it was that the main character smoked weed and was an adult. I rolled my eyes because that is the kind of hip bullcrap that directors and writers put in movies to sell to audiences. My final assessment of the movie was that it was Office Space, but without the comedy. Before people think that I am crazy I will explain this theory. So the main character goes through a religious style experience that shows him he should stop living life by other people's rules. It goes well for a while, but then it starts to alienate the man from his wife/girlfriend and drives her away. He ends up really hurting his best friends/neighbors and daughter. Then at the end of the movie the main character realizes that this lifestyle he has been leading really has no substance and that everything that he had before that lifestyle got out of hand is what gave his life substance. Of course, Office Space has a happy ending and American Beauty really doesn't, but the main theme is the exact or close to the exact same thing. Except American Beauty has not comedy...