American Beauty
Rating = B+
The universal story of
(everyone) searching for love, in the context of two families of
which all members have gotten in the habit of being unhappy.
Very well done in terms of film craft, but it left me slightly
cold. This is puzzling because I could emphasize with the
characters' situations and the acting was uniformly strong. It
may be that the dramatic tension of the plot had no potential for
positive resolution and thus the story was a little too clinical.
I liked it, and I'd see it again in a minute. Perhaps I should to
see if it grows on me.
Kevin Spacey is almost as impressive as most of the reviewers have
said.
[1999-10-10]