Not very many things turn me off more than hype. As soon as a movie is The Must See Movie of the Year! I am immediately ignore the movie and all things written about it. It's a shame really; the movie in question really could be the must see movie of the year, but after so much bombardment, how can even the greatest movie not be a let-down?
So, five years after its release, I finally saw American Beauty last night. A couple of weeks ago, we met quite a lot of Steph's colleagues for a Big Night Out (to celebrate entree, or the return to school)and I found myself chatting with two of the English teachers. Their knowledge of English is based on Great Britain, and they were curious to know the differences between English and American colloquialisms. Talk turned to music and movies, and American Beauty came up. I confessed that I'd never seen it, and next thing you know Eric offered to lend us his DVD. Since the hype has long-passed, I felt it was time to take this movie off my overhyped list and watch the dern thing.
I won't bore you to tears with my critical review, but it certainly was a powerful movie, with more laughs than I expected. I even shed a tear at the end (but then for me it would be more telling if I didn't cry during a movie - the waterworks seem to activate as soon as I enter a movie theater or turn on the DVD player). So, yes, it's highly recommended.
But I won't say more, lest you think I'm over-hyping.
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