B+ and I really enjoyed this look at a man chronicling his own last year of life, the banality of his work, his marriage, his parenting, his failed adulthood, and much more. It is a fine film, especially as a first movie, and is very well acted by Kevin Spacey, Annette Benning, Chris Cooper, and the rest of the cast. A rich film, it starts as an embarrassing look at Spacey’s meaningless life, his horrible job, his distance (emotional, intellectual, and sexual) from his wife and daughter, his crush on a 16-year old cheerleader. It plots the danger of homophobia (it kills eventually) and his redemption as a man and his growth into adulthood as he resists sleeping with the cheerleader. Also weird stuff on the distance between the postmodern generation (daughter and boyfriend with video, a la Sex, Lies, and Videotape) and the elders locked, each into their respective caricatures of life and success: recreating adolescence (Spacey), financial success (Benning), and macho posturing in manhood (Cooper). Very interesting look at the world. Worth seeing. Yes, I know most serious movie buffs hated this one