American Beauty (1999)
(In theaters, September 1999) Even though Oscar buzz for this film is pretty high, I can’t say I’m cheering for it. Yes, Kevin Spacey is magnificent as the curiously sympathetic protagonist. But, -and this is almost certainly an age thing- I wasn’t deeply affected either by the middle-age crisis theme nor the adolescent-angst subplot, leaving me hanging straight in-between these two age groups. Granted, the movie is at times spectacularly funny, but then it predictably veers into the melodramatic and the deliberately-artsy, making me wish it would go back in comedy territory. The final line is pretty good, though.