A true 'American' classic!

Rating: 10/10 (21 February 2003)

This is a truly excellent movie that is sure to go down in history as a classic. The acting is absolutly outstanding with great performances from Annete Bening, Thora Birch, Chris Cooper, Wes Bently, Mena Suvari and especially Kevin Spacey in his Academy Award Winning role, who gives his best performance since 1995's The Usual Suspects. The plot is very interesting = it's about a man Lester (Kevin Spacey) and his suburban family including his over acheiver real-estate agent wife Caroline (Annete Bening) and his weird and depressed teenage daughter (Thora Birch). After Lester gets layed off he starts to work in a fast food restaurant and smoke pot, which really bothers his wife. Since his wife is fed up with Lester and can't find a way to sell many more houses, she decides to have an affair with a real-estate agent Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) who calls himself "The King". The daughter befriends a strange and nice boy (Wes Bently) who is new to the neighborhood, and he also befriends her dad Lester too, and becomes his main pot supplier. There is a hilarious scene in the movie where the new kid's dad (played by Chris Cooper) thinks his son is having an affair with Lester. This film is an excellent film, with great writing and directing too (This is the director, Sam Mendes's first film). The film scored a lot of Academy Awards including Best Actor - Kevin Spacey, Best Director - Sam Mendes, Best Original Screenplay - Alan Ball and Best Picture of the Year. This is an excellent drama and should be acknowleged as one of the best films ever made! People who enjoy this movie will always enjoy the series 'Six Feet Under' who was created by Alan Ball. The third season premieres on HBO at 9:00 p.m. on March 2.
Grade: A+