Psued-edgy and pseudo-intellectual

Rating: 6/10 (2 August 2001)

***Warning! Spoiler Alert!!!***
This movie is what usually happens when mainstream Hollywood wants to make an `edgy, independent-type' movie. The theme is so hackneyed, the characters so two-dimensional, that nothing in the movie really seems new. Before I get into why I didn't like it, I will say that there was much about it that was good. It had an amazing look to it, and the acting was good. Kevin Spacey is always good, and all the other major characters were portrayed well, too. I will say that the first time that I saw it I liked it, but after thinking about it more and more my opinion of it got lower and lower. The characters, every one of them, had nothing new about them whatsoever. A middle-aged family man who begins questioning his job, his family, his values? Ditto for his wife. These are nothing new, and were not presented in any way that we've never seen before. A teen-angst daughter rebelling against her parents? And the best character of all, the avowed homophobe who turns out to be (gasp) a closeted homosexual himself? I've never heard of that before! I am by no means anti-gay, but what I am against is trite crap I've seen many times before. The whole message of the movie seems to be `there is beauty all around.' Wow. I've never heard that expressed before. That is revolutionary. Also, moviemakers do not need to hit us over the head with their messages. We'll figure them out with a little less help. The last big problem with the movie was Lester's death. After having a rebirth and discovering what was truly important in life, a spurned Marine shoots him? (And what was the point in trying to make us guess about who was going to kill him, and then showing clearly who ended up doing it?) There was absolutely no need to have Lester die at the end, the only reason I can think of was because the writer's couldn't think of a better ending.
So, I did `look closer' and I found that there wasn't all that much to see. By the way, I was not offended by the movie at all, so that is not the reason I didn't like it.