Absurdly overpraised - and over acted

Rating: 4/10 (4 July 2005)

"American Beauty" is one of the most absurdly over praised films of the '90s. It is a pale shadow of Robert Redford's classic "Ordinary People", which it seems so intent on echoing. The script is contrived and artificial, the acting, while in some cases good, is full of over the top histrionics that have all of the subtlety of an atomic bomb. It's amazing to me that this film hasn't fallen further in esteem since it's release.
That said, Sam Mendes is a talented director, and his follow-up (the UNDER praised "Road to Perdition") found a sense of subtlety and resonance in it's writing and acting which his Oscar-winning cartoon lacked.