American Stereotypes

Rating: 1/10 (7 March 2000)

This movie had a huge "Look ma I'm an Artist" splashed over the screen. Where to begin? In no particular order:
* The first scene we see is Spacey jerking off in the shower; that is the highlight of the movie. Characters aren't developed, they are changed - sometimes unnecessarily (the ex-marine ....in the end... was it an attempt to shock or to make somebody laugh?)
* Spacey realizes that the things he owned ended up owning him; in the light of this revelation he buys a car.
* Talk about stereotypes... every teenager is depressed, they all hate or despise their parents, and they are either quite stupid or deep and wise. The ex-marine and his wife would have been quite funny in a lighter movie, but they are treated too seriously here.
* The fact that the blonde was a virgin was quite clear from frame zero (again, an attempt to shock with a sudden revelation?)
* The garbage moved by the wind is mistaken for art in the States. Let me quote another movie with Annette Bening: "They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand."
* The witty, caustic dialogue isn't there. There are three or four good oneliners, but nothing to write home about - everything had an already-heard, leftover taste. Academy award for Non Sequitur: "I'll go to the bathroom", uttered by the dumb blonde to push us into the next scene, where Spacey had to be alone.
* Career-driven people may be interesting for american moviegoers, but everywhere else we realize that the priorities of those people are messed up, so it's harder for us to feel sad for those poor jerks when they turn forty and suddenly wake up. "Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family, can never be a real man" (now, _that_ was a great movie.)
* A note about the soundtrack: anybody playing the piano should use at least three fingers, unless they want to beat the world record for annoying music.
To make a long story short: the people around me laughed loudly in the first 10/15 minutes, then began to chuckle as the realization that they had burned 10$ slowly crept over them. After the first hour the theatre was silent, and I began watching the upholstery of the chair in front of me on the basis that it was slightly more interesting than what was going on on the screen. I spent the last thirty minutes listening for the sound of dying brain cells. Later I talked to 10+ people and they all said that this was a lousy movie, except for a girl who said that "she loves everything made by Altman" (yeah, right). I really wonder how this movie made it to the top ten list. Too bad I'm not allowed to give negative marks on the IMDB.