Why the hype?

Rating: 5/10 (22 May 2000)

This, to me, was nothing more than a average film with an odd ending. I had heard how great the movie was and after hearing it was nominated as best picture I figured it should be pretty good; I was disappointed. I watched the DVD (I, surprisingly, had not heard about the ending) and cannot understand the uproar and acclaim this movie has gotten. I found myself bored with the plot and the characters most of the way through and the ending, though somewhat surprising, didn't make up for an overall average film. I kept waiting for the plot to get interesting to justify all of the acclaim and it just never happened.
Solid acting, average script and a surprising ending do not make a classic, this was definitely not one of the top 5 movies of '99 (how this was nominated and not Magnolia is beyond me) and certainly not in the top 20 of all time (as IMDB voting would suggest.)