Written by a Hollywood hack t.v. writer (Alan Ball) whose own grade-b sitcom had recently bombed. And so he thinks to himself: Ha! I'll try my hand at feature film writing! Result: A feature film that plays like a grade-b t.v. sitcom.

This film completely and totally panders to stereotypical self-righteous liberal values. "The emptiness of the institution of marriage, the emptiness of child-rearing, the emptiness of capitalism, the emptiness of life itself."  And also: "Don't blame people, the victims of all of this nonsense and insanity."

This film completely overlooks the fact that not one of its characters (and I mean CHARACTERS) even mildly attempts to lift a finger to find themselves out of their morass. Instead, they wallow in it.  Not one of these self-indulgent, self-righteous, hedonistic, self-centered, self-absorbed people attempts to critique themselves and look in the mirror.  Their problems are the fault of everybody and everything else.

So what are we supposed to think, walking out of the movie theatre...?  Trouble with your marriage?  Get divorced.  Trouble with people at work?  Trash them and quit the job. Trouble with life in general?  Retire to your garage and smoke pot.

Empty values, empty characters, empty movie.
Written by a Hollywood hack t. v. writer (Alan Ball) whose own grade-b sitcom had recently bombed. And so he thinks to himself: Ha! I'll try my hand at feature film writing! Result: A feature film that plays like a grade-b t. v. sitcom. This film completely and totally panders to stereotypical self-righteous liberal values. "The emptiness of the institution of marriage, the emptiness of child-rearing, the emptiness of capitalism, the emptiness of life itself. "  And also: "Don't blame people, the victims of all of this nonsense and insanity. "

This film completely overlooks the fact that not one of its characters (and I mean CHARACTERS) even mildly attempts to lift a finger to find themselves out of their morass. Instead, they wallow in it. Not one of these self-indulgent, self-righteous, hedonistic, self-centered, self-absorbed people attempts to critique themselves and look in the mirror. Their problems are the fault of everybody and everything else. So what are we supposed to think, walking out of the movie theatre... ? Trouble with your marriage? Get divorced. Trouble with people at work? Trash them and quit the job. Trouble with life in general? Retire to your garage and smoke pot. Empty values, empty characters, empty movie.