Saw American Beauty for the first time.

So overrated

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Underrated to me.

Nobody talks about it.

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That's b/c it's pretentious garbage. Cooper is really good, however.

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Chris Cooper had the best performance in this movie hands down. Was a really good movie

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It was a perfect storm - great director, cinematographer, musical score, Spacey knew what to do with the lead part, Cooper (as you suggest, very strong performance - he is certainly underrated), the girls gave surprisingly strong performances in such a film.

The themes and motifs are strong, but do not overpower the strong performances in the film. Mendes' first film and still his best.

I still like it.

Pretentious garbage that spawned even worse

I thought it was a very solid and, for its time, provocative film. Looking back, maybe some of its devices seem dated or overwrought, but that's only because of a lot of other derivative crap that's been on the screen since its release.

One of my top five least favorite well-reviewed films. Yeah, he hates gays because he's secretly gay. Marriage is fraudulent. The American family is fraudulent.Suburban American life is pathetic and desperate. It was So painfully cliched and overtly political. I felt like it was written by a sophomore in college so simplistic was the point-of-view. What a steaming pile of warmed-over cliches. It was so embarrassingly self-conscious that I actually found myself laughing in the theater. Clever lines and A List actors could never save this shite sandwich.

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Lsupimp

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Although I happened to like it at the time, I completely understand how you could have that point of view. If that makes sense.

Thank you. The only thing that smells worse than pure shite is when someone tries to cover up pure shite with cheap perfume.