Good Movie . . . But Awfully Depressing

Rating: Null/10 (21 November 2002)

Okay, this movie did win for best picture. Also, Kevin Spacey won the Oscar for Best Actor (his second Oscar and his first for a Leading Role), and that was well-deserved. However, given that it came out the same year that ¨The Green Mile¨, ¨The Sixth Sense¨, and ¨The Cider House Rules¨ came out and were nominated, I thought this movie didn´t compare to those I just mentioned.
Yes, it was an original movie, and it was well put together. The cast made you believe that you were watching a reality show more than you were watching people act, and that´s good. However, I don´t recommend watching this movie when you´re in a good mood, or a bad mood for that matter. It´s hard to explain, but you´re bound to be depressed by the end.
Let me explain. This movie is about an upper middle class family, with a father who is in the midst of a midlife crisis, and the rest of the people in his world are not doing well helping him cope. I guess you can read the other´s people´s comments to get a better description of the movie, but that´s the best I can do for now.
I can tell you that at first, the overall point of this movie, or so it seemed, is that no matter what you do in life, no matter how successful you become or how happy you may seem when you´re younger, your life is eventually going to suck, and suck hard. I´m not really a fan of that message. However, this movie is more about selfishness. Every character who had a screw loose in this movie (and that´s nearly everybody) got that way because of selfishness. Their wanting more lead to their downfall. Looking at the movie that way made it a better movie for me.
If I were to give this a rating, I would give it 7/10. Again, don´t see this movie if you´re in a really good mood, because your mood will be killed quickly.