The plastic facade of American suburbia, the everyman's ambition, the utopia we all secretly hope to one day reside. Will be shattered in this bracingly honest and dark dramedy about the hopes, ambitions, aspirations, memories, and dreams of two intertwining families.
The first, the Burnhams, include a husband & wife couple (Kevin Spacey & Anette Benning giving the performances of their careers) so mean to each other it's a wonder one of them isn't dead yet. And a daughter who alone sees through the fabricatated lies of thier respective lives. The other family includes one very tight-wound Colonel (Chris Cooper), one very numb wife (Allison Janney), and the teenage drug-dealing son who can also gaze straight through the chaos (Wes Bentley). They hook up, fall in love, and make failed passes at each other. But it is with a cold, calculated eye that we watch as both families fall apart. Slowly, as they realize their folly at trying to win at a game that doesn't even really exist.
Their dialouge is dark, and bitingly funny. You'll be laughing through tears. And in the end, after a very tragic gun shot, we (and they) are shown one thing: That on any given day the eveyman may stroll through his stupid little life and gaze straight into the eyes of God. And what will he see? True, honest beauty, not the American kind that comes with extra packets of McSmiley sauce.
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