How nasty can family members and neighbors be to each other? American Beauty tries to answer that question. Adultery, name-calling, humiliation, drug pushing, voyeurism, and murder play key roles in this terrifying dark comedy. American Beauty may be getting rave reviews from most critics, but don’t let that fool you. Its only saving grace is superb acting by Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening. These two masterful actors deliver riveting performances as a middle-class husband and wife who have lost that lovin’ feeling --- at least for one another. But even their outstanding efforts fail to make up for the movie’s relentless depiction of immorality and thoughtlessness.

The Burnhams rank in the 99th percentile of filmdom’s dysfunctional families. Lester (Spacey) just lost his job and lusts after one of his daughter’s girlfriends (Mena Suveri). His wife Carolyn (Bening) frantically pursues a career in real estate as well as an affair with the head of a rival agency (Peter Gallagher). Daughter Jane (Thora Birch) falls for a drug dealer (Wes Bentley) who videotapes everyone’s private moments and private parts. To top things off, the family next door includes a housewife in suspended animation (Allison Janney) and a retired U.S. Marine (Chris Cooper) whose child-rearing techniques make the Marquis de Sade look like Mary Poppins.

Are any of these characters someone to care about? Not as dealt with by first-time director Sam Mendes and screenwriter Alan Ball, best known for his work on television programs like Grace Under Fire. Granted, it’s not necessary to like the characters in a film in order to appreciate it. Remember War of the Roses? But it helps to give them a touch of humanity. Spacey’s Lester comes closest to gaining a little sympathy. How? As the movie’s narrator, he tells the audience right away he is a dead man describing events leading up to his demise --- a cheap dramatic trick borrowed from Sunset Boulevard.

Another rip-off scene shows a paper bag wafting in the wind like the feather in Forrest Gump, only dragging on longer. Similar gimmicks from the School of Pretentious Filmmaking permeate American Beauty. And where did that title come from? (There’s not one spaghetti or macaroni shot in the entire movie!) Does it symbolize the teenage cheerleader bathed in rose petals in Lester’s fantasies? Does it refer to the flowers in Carolyn’s garden? Do inquiring minds really want to know?

Attempting to close the movie on a profound note, Lester says, “Sometimes I see so much beauty in the world, I can hardly stand it.” Likewise, sometimes I see so much ugliness in a film I can’t stand it. American Beauty caused just such a reaction.

(Released by DreamWorks Pictures and rated “R” for sexual situations, nudity, drug content, strong language, and violence)