American Beauty (1999)

Not a very likely story

There are people who leave their jobs and do similar things as the main character played by Kevin Spacey. If that actually happens to someone you know, the person might have a brain tumour or some other undiagnosed psychiatric or other medical condition, so the thing to do is to get them to a hospital and have them checked out.

There are some people who collect Nazi memorabilia, such as the singer Lemmy from the music group Motorhead.

There are probably so many middle-aged men who fantasise about teenaged girls that it's rather an everyday occurrence.

There probably are men who discover they are homosexual late in life. I doubt there are a lot of men who discover they are homosexual after watching their neighbour and misinterpreting his behaviour, then suddenly decide to kiss the neighbour, then decide to shoot themselves after that.

Unfortunately there are people who think the above unlikely sequence of events constitutes some kind of profound revelation which we all ought to go and see at the cinema.

I really do wonder why people think this film has a profound message, to the extent that it was awarded Oscars. The premise of the film is frankly stupid, and the conclusions the film seems to want to draw about people's naivety just insult our intelligence. It truly reflects badly on the people who give these awards that they thought this ridiculous story should be lauded.

Back to main page