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The basic story is a failed marriage and the plot revolves around three homes in a "peaceful" little neighborhood. The film is narrated by Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) who is married to Caroline (Annette Bening). Their daughter Jane has a friend (Angela/Mena Suvari) who objects to Jane's relationship with the neighbor Ricky (Wes Bentley) but seems to not mind thinking about sleeping with Jane's father.
If you are a keen observer of life, you will recognize a great number of problems in life that are displayed in one story. The following ideas are portrayed in this movie:
Men in the Military and religious people are portrayed as wacko
Obsession with beauty and youth
Parents don't understand teenagers
Teenagers are self-absorbed and shallow
Drinking and Drugs are the way to escape
Irresponsibility is portrayed as something honorable
Disrespect for authority
Parents trying to be just their kid's friends instead of a guide in life
Teenagers who dress too sexy for their age
A fascination with death and the grotesque
Voyeurism and out-of-control fantasy
Kids making money the easy way.....lack of values
Lying to Parents
Denial that there is a problem
Contempt for Authority, in your face attitude
Parents distrusting their children
Divorce and Adultery
Blackmail and Sexual Harassment
Making other people pay for our irresponsibility
Alternate lifestyles are presented as so very stable, which can be disproven
Depression and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Base beliefs on experiences instead of truth
Teenage sex and rebellion is not frowned on
Addiction to the "F" word
Psychotic Behavior and uncontrolled Violence
Disrespect for property
Generation Gap
You can't count on anyone but yourself
Unhappiness
Domestic Violence
Material Possessions are a priority
No shame of nudity or of being filmed nude
Parents spying on their children and neighbors
An obsession with talking about sex
Suspicion
Prostitution
Children leaving home because of physical abuse
Verbal Abuse
Selfishness
Assumptions
Man relying on himself instead of God
Giving alcohol to minors
Anger, Confusion, Frustration, Suicide
Parental Abandonment
Sarcasm
The Inevitability of Death
Wait? Did I miss anything? What a list!
The pieces of this story in fact do fit together in the story of a life ruled by secular humanism. An interesting look at how I don't want to live my life. Maybe people were so shocked that a movie actually made them think that they awoke to a new awareness. Either you will love or hate this movie.
Basically, I think morals have just slid down the drain and all the movie floodgates have just opened. This is an ugly portrayal of a life not worth living. No one is really happy in this movie. Has anyone noticed that? The characters also seemed to be without souls. Just bodies following every desire or impulse with no guiding principles.
Maybe what we want isn't really what we need and maybe what we need is what makes us happy. A profound movie? No, but thought provoking with a shocking ending.
Art? Yes, a few rose petals, but that doesn't make it art. This is more like a painting that has black ink splattered all over it and it is falling off the wall. Not the movie, but the ideas presented. There are "erotic" scenes of beauty, but it isn't quite an art film. For that you might want to see a French film like "Blue."
The sickness of spirit without a higher power/God is very apparent. You can't find joy from only living for yourself. Living a fulfilling life requires an effort on your part and a dose of healthy morality. Society can't exist without it for very long. When you start pulling out the threads of morality that run through the quilt of the American Dream all you end up with is some tattered threads, some ruined lives and unhappiness.
The most depressing movie I have ever seen and I felt no sympathy for any of the characters as they were all too bizarre.
Your reaction to this movie says more about you than you will most likely want to know. On the one hand I want to say I am glad I watched this, on the other hand, I feel sick to think that anyone lives that way.
What a wasted life when you just live it for yourself.
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