Definitely not a classic film

Rating: 4/10 (31 January 2000)

Inspired by the advance publicity for Sam Mendes' first outing as cinema director, I went in wanting to be impressed. The let down makes my reaction all the harsher.
Beautifully filmed, yes, but the arty shots were an excuse to let the camera linger lovingly on nasty scenes. Maybe this works on the stage allowing taboo subjects and sexual attitudes to be raised and examined, but on the big screen in a "real life" family it was just pretentious, overblown and ultimately just plain unpleasant.
I found myself looking for some themes underlying the various plot threads in the film and finding none. I found the characters difficult to like. I found the camera work strained. The songs were nice (revealing my age here), and Kevin Spacey did himself some good, but this was not a film to recommend to friends.
Keep on trying Sam.