Glossy Fluff

Rating: Null/10 (5 November 2005)

Production values are A+ but the movie isn't about anything. It vaguely dips into a host of issues and subjects but never fully develops any of them or gets around to making a point -- oh yeah, and it has a killer soundtrack. (Great images and music to make killer trailers and sell movie tickets.) I heard a rumor that "American Beauty" was radically different when shot (a courtroom drama, in fact) and was shaped in its current form in the editing room. That info along with the sucky follow up, "Road to Perdition", makes one conclude that Mendes is a showman but NOT a storyteller. A better "study" of war and its effects on the human psyche is "The Thin Red Line".