Stories from Suburbia

Rating: Null/10 (17 February 2000)

The most remarkable thing about this movie is its success, considering that is not a particularly remarkable film. Very capably scripted, acted and directed I found it to be compelling viewing that entertains and, up to a point, illuminates in its examination of a regular family in the 'burbs.
But the 'great' movies as measured by box office success or critical acclaim are generally characterised by more extreme situations and characters than we find here. So what is it about this piece that has struck a chord with cinemagoers and critics alike?
Perhaps it is the very ordinariness of the characters, who would be almost caricature stereotypes of people we recognise if they were not so well drawn? Maybe the rutted tracks of domestic life, love, work and parenthood are too poignantly familiar not to make us squirm inwardly, but with pleasure? Could it be because the main protagonists all manage a form of escape from their lives of quiet desperation - even central character Lester Burnham (superbly played by Kevin Spacey) appears to have cheated death by speaking to us from the grave, no mean feat even by 21st century standards.

Overall, I suspect a major factor in its success is that audiences are finally ready for mainstream releases with simpler, well-told and portrayed stories that help place us. From the beginning, movies have been seen as vehicles to take us out of ourselves by showing us a bigger, more exciting and dangerous world beyond our neighbourhood. It is possible that we are now ready to confront the truth about ourselves closer to home.