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As far as debuts go, they can impress cinema goers to see more from that director, such as Tarintino's Reservoir Dogs, and Orson Welles' Citizen Kane- although that one took some time thou! Now we have another one to add to our favourite directorial debut lists, as Sam Mendes directs one of the most memorable modern dramas, in an era filled with effects laden blockbuster epics.

American Beauty, for those who have yet seen this yet, is, if you boil it down to the basics, about a middle aged father going through a mid-life crisis- and what a crisis it is too, as he has fallen in love with a high school cheer leader. But haven't we all seen films involving a mid-life crisis narrative before? Yes, but not like this!

Beautiful shot scene by scene, Mendes is a director who knows how to make the most of the camera for cinematic impact; whether it comes to either directing video camera footage of a plastic bag, to that renowned dream sequence- yes, this is the one with partially naked girl on the ceiling of rose petals! Mendes also knows how to get the most of his cast, in particular Kevin Spacey in the main role- when you though he outdone himself in the Usual Suspects, then you should see him in more dramatic action in this film.

One of the things that this film does is to have an original message- and it is not something along the lines of not getting sidetracked in your marriage! The universal message of seeing "beauty" in everything around you with definitely bedazzled film goers alike- either that or they start starring with burning passion at plastic bags blowing in the wind!

Having seen all of Mendes' current outings at the silver screen, the intriguing comic book adaptation Road to Perdition and the excellent war biopic Jarhead, American Beauty will definitely be the one he will be most remember for with great reasons: Kevin Spacey's finest performance since the Usual Suspects, the picture perfect cinematography, the fascinating message of "beauty", and reinventing the mid-life crisis movie forever. Also, this film, like most classics, has memorable usage of music, and definitely one of the best, and memorable, directorial debuts in this recent chapter of movie history.

Men in Black 2...Son of a Mask... do they ring any bells? Yes, they're all sequels of hit family films, which sucked! And, guess another family film sequel that sucks... that's right; Big Momma's House 2! Who on earth thought that this was a good idea to get Martin Lawrence cross-dressing again as an elderly obese nanny to find out some information on another suspicious character? Well, some half-brain-cell executive thought it was a good idea to do that, and the results speak for it.

A lacklustre plot involving a dad of this family of stereotypical outfits in Orange County is being tracked down by the FBI for creating this virus to make military databases available to all. So, FBI agent, Malcolm Turner, gets dressed up as Big Momma once again to hunt him down, despite the fact his wife is 8 1/2 months pregnant. And before you ask, I did pay attention to this narrative to make this summary, but lost all hope of this being any good from the start of this film!

To say anything that will make it sound different from every other review is impossible, as they all come to the same conclusion that this is rubbish. The script doesn't do justice as it sounds like a run-of-a-mill family comedy Hollywood has been churning out since Home Alone, and the likes of, no surprise, Big Momma's House.

Martin Lawrence doesn't make it even worthwhile, even if you love him to bits,as he is just recycling a role he already did for its predecessor. So,nothing new to look forward on his part; shame on you!

The other cast of characters don't seem to inspire a lot of good out of this film; the all-dancing young daughter, the delusional teen daughter, and the mute "little stunt man" baby son are all characters we have seen in one form or another over the years. So, don't expect to enjoy the new cast of characters in this franchise!

Although sequels tend to be a lot weaker than its predecessor, this makes no excuse for making such a cinematic dog's ear out of this! I can honestly say that this is the worst sequel since Son of the Mask, and that is saying a lot, if you ask me! Avoiding this is not a suggestion, or an option, but an order, when it starts playing in your local cinema!