In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

the love for family is one of the strongest driving forces in any man 's life , especially for those who have fostered their family under precarious circumstances .
thematically in cinema , love for family has been used frequently and emphatically to highlight more abstract aspects of characters ; it is rare , however , for it to develop as outstandingly as it does in roberto benigni 's neo - classic drama , life is beautiful .
through a central cast of father , mother , and son , benigni demonstrates the wonderful , undying love that a family shares in the best of times and the worst of times .
life
* is * beautiful for guido orefice ( roberto benigni , directing himself here for the sixth time in his career ) , an italian jew , master con man , and aspiring waiter extraordinaire .
living in 1930 's italy , he lives a carefree life of good fortune ; it is made even better when he happens upon a pretty schoolteacher named dora ( nicoletta braschi ) .
although dora is already engaged , guido manages to sweep her off her feet and persuades her to marry him instead ; the two have a child named joshua ( giorgio cantarini ) .
unfortunately for the happy family , the third reich and its nazi minions occupy italy and imprison all jews in work camps .
it is after the movie takes this dramatic turn that the movie 's theme of family love becomes the strongest .
although prior to this turning point benigni plays guido with a sort of goofy charm , he relaxes the role to ensure his son 's happiness .
now , instead of awkwardly seducing the sweet dora , he constantly reassures his son that everything will be all right .
benigni 's performance is truly a well - rounded one , and certainly one of the more fluid turns all year .
the supports are all strong as well , but the movie truly excels in its script .
life is beautiful is a self - proclaimed fable , one which tells its story in grand , two - part fashion .
in certain parts it manages to sink to the level of a " saturday night live " spinoff -- a number of humorous skits connected by a token plot -- but in the movie 's second half the script 's circular nature becomes admirably obvious .
characters make reprise appearances in fine form , and certain events which are intially curious become critically linked to the plot 's outcome .
in all , fans of foreign film will see this as a memorable motion picture , and novice movie - watchers may take this opportunity to see their first " artsy " film .
life is beautiful is an artsy movie by convention but
easily accessible to everyone , and above all is a fine thematic picture .
P

warner brothers ; rated pg-13 ( mild violence , sexual situations ) ; 132 minutes director : luis mandoki screenplay : gerald di pego ( from the novel by nicholas sparks ) cast : kevin costner , robin wright - penn , paul newman , illeana douglas , robbie coltrane , jesse james , john savage .
review by :
geoff berkshire
i 'm not an overly cynical guy .
there have been many glossy hollywood romances that have carried me away with their romanticism over the years .
however , i have my limits and i also have standards .
this brings us to the subject at hand : message in a bottle , the big ticket romance that warner brothers ' unleashed upon the movie going public just in time for valentine 's day .
the story , what little of it that there is , involves boring chicago tribune reporter theresa osborne ( robin wright - penn ) dealing with her recent divorce and trying to raise her young son jason ( jesse james ) .
during a brief stay somewhere in new england she finds the titular message in a bottle while on a morning run by the ocean .
the letter , written to a mystery woman named catherine , instantly captivates her .
upon her return , theresa shares it with her best friend lina ( illeana douglas ) , her boss charlie ( robbie coltrane ) , and the entire city of chicago ( the newspaper publishes an article about it ) .
it turns out that the message was written by grieving widower garret blake ( kevin costner ) and so theresa travels to north carolina and tracks him down .
he turns out to have a colorful father ( paul newman ) but is otherwise perfectly dull and overly obsessed with sailing .
this is somehow attractive to theresa and the two begin their awkward courtship .
of course she does n't tell him that she found his letter , she wants to but the rules of this type of film require him to find out later ( preferably right after they first make love ) .
this way garret can get very angry and the relationship can be threatened .
the discovery of the message and garret 's discovery that theresa discovered the message are really the only two noteworthy events that happen during the nearly two and a quarter hour running time of this film .
there 's a truly lame subplot about garret 's relationship with his dead wife 's family ( he gets into a bar fight with her brother , played by john savage ) and then the necessary tear - jerking ending .
a fun way to pass the time is to take bets on exactly who will die , although it becomes pretty clear by the second reel .
the actual death sequence is one of the most ridiculously forced , and unintentionally humorous , sequences filmed since .
. .
well , since costner 's the postman ( 1997 ) .
message in a bottle is one slow moving film .
last year audiences were offered endurance tests such as the horse whisperer and meet joe black but both of those films resemble jerry bruckheimer productions next to this .
they also had redeeming qualities in the form of quality performances and some stand out technical work .
message in a bottle has a decent enough cast but they 're fighting the material all the way , and losing badly .
costner and , especially , wright - penn are both likable and attractive enough to cheer for but their characters are simply too boring .
they also fail to generate any kind of real romantic chemistry .
the supporting players are given very little to do .
the reliable douglas is particularly wasted .
old pro newman gives his all and occasionally threatens to kick some life into this dead horse of a film .
a confrontational scene he has with costner near the end is especially well played .
however , too frequently he just reminds us how unexciting our lead characters are .
the film is very polished on the technical side to be sure but it only works to undercut the story .
gabriel yared , who previously set the romantic moods of the english patient ( 1996 ) and city of angels ( 1998 ) with his scores , overdoes it a bit here .
caleb deschanel 's camera makes everything look a little too beautiful .
do the offices of the chicago tribune really need to look heavenly ?
the editing by steven weisberg is troubling not only considering all that could have been cut out but is also simply messy at times .
the real offender here is screenwriter
gerald di pego .
working from a best- selling novel by nicholas sparks ( which i have not read but have been told is on the same literary level as the bridges of madison county ) , di pego creates one of the most uninspired scripts of recent times .
its strict adherence to clich ?
s brings to mind such disasters as i still know what you did last summer ( 1998 ) .
there simply is n't an original scene in this film .
the dialogue is rarely better than laughable and this is only accentuated by the excessively long pauses every character takes while speaking .
this is director mandoki 's first film since when a man loves a woman ( 1994 ) , the solid meg ryan / andy garcia romance .
he 's simply going through the motions with this .
message in a bottle is easily the worst of the several romantic offerings available in theaters at the moment and vies with what dreams may come ( 1998 ) as one of the most misguided romances of the decade .
N

dreamworks pictures presents a jinks/ cohen company production kevin spacey annette bening " american beauty " thora birch allison janney peter gallagher mena suvari wes bentley and chris cooper co - producers stan wlodkowski alan ball music by thomas newman costume designer julie weiss
film editor tariq anway chris greenbury production designer naomi shohan director of photography conrad
l . hall , a .
s .
c .
produced by bruce cohen & dan jinks written by alan ball directed by sam mendes
" both my wife and daughter think i 'm this gigantic loser .
and they 're right .
i have lost something .
i did n't always feel this sedated .
" with that piece of dialogue , we are fully introduced to lester burnham ( kevin spacey ) , a 42 year old man trapped within his own life .
lester works for an advertising agency .
his growing dissatisfaction with his job is only one of the mid - life crisis he is suffering .
estranged from both his wife and his daughter , lester starts to crack under the stress .
his life becomes nothing more than a series of mastubatory fantasies , and sullen apathy .
carolyn burnham ( annette bening ) , is the prototypical career woman/ homemaker .
she carefully tends her rose garden , decorates her home with the best furnishings .
but inside she is desperate .
unsuccessful at her profession as a real estate agent , she drives herself into states of denial and self loathing that only feed her growing resentment towards her family .
the third member of this anti - family is jane burnham ( thora birch ) , lester and carolyn 's daughter .
a young girl going through the typical stages of adolescence , but having to also come to terms with her families growing dysfunction .
this funny ( and frightening ) slice of life is refreshingly simple .
not one character is given less than is needed to identify him or her .
some of the most telling characters are those that serve to highlight other characters .
most notably is barbara fitts ( allison janney ) , the almost catatonic wife of retired marine colonel fitts .
she has almost no dialogue , and seems to be either recovering from a stroke or suffering from one .
colonel fitts ( chris cooper ) is an angry and frightened man .
his rage directed almost singularly at his son , ricky ( wes bentley ) who has just moved with his family to the same neighborhood as the burnham 's .
in fact they are the next door neighbors .
anymore detail into the personalities of these marvelously diverse characters would deprive one of the many pleasures and surprises to be had in " american beauty " .
alan ball , who was the co - executive producer of the hit tv series " cybil " and creator of the new sitcom
" oh grow up " , has fashioned one of the most insightful and expertly tuned screenplays to have hit the screen in the past ten years . not one character in this film rings falsely .
and the depth of personality in each , is achingly honest and insightful .
the plot detailing the last year in the life of a man as he tries to find his own self worth is so resoundingly cliched and at the same time original as to bring to mind such marvelous film work as " the graduate " or " lolita " .
kevin spacey turns in one of this years most pragmatic performances .
his lester burnham is an everyman caught up in the middle of a life that is spiraling into old age .
finally unable to deal with the lost soul that he has become , lester tries to return to his youth .
he quits his job ( actually blackmailing his employer for one year 's salary ) , starts smoking pot , fantasizes about his daughter 's girlfriend angela ( mena suvari , in a marvelous performance here ) , starts working out , and finally takes a job at the local fast food outlet .
mr .
spacey 's performance is so remarkably subtle and ingenuous , that we can be certain that come oscar ? time ,
we can be assured to see him name among the five nominees .
annette bening also turns in what may be the best performance of her career .
carolyn burnham is a woman who has become so insecure as to be caught up in maintaining the facade of normalcy . unable to cope with her growing disillusionment , she forces herself to maintain her demeanor , driving her further and further into desperation , adultery and possibly murder .
ms .
bening makes the character of carolyn so compelling as to be identifiable to almost anyone .
the slow and methodical turn from happy home maker to charnel house martha stewart is too frightening to express in words .
thora birch holds her own against the talents cast with her .
jane burnham is both an innocent girl caught up in what is a dysfunctional family , and a rebellious child ready to abandon them at any moment .
her growing distrust and isolation from her family is something that many parents should view as a warning .
she is the prototypical trophy child .
when carolyn praises her daughter after a performance by her cheerleading team ( " i 'm so proud of you , honey .
you did n't screw up once ! " ) , the bitterness and resentment are palpable .
thora birch is a young actress to watch
. praise must also go to chris cooper who brings yet another angry father role to life with depth and resonance .
colonel finn is a man in complete denial .
his military upbringing masking a desire he is too repulsed to even comprehend .
wes bentley as ricky finn is fine as the enigma .
the boy next door who may be more foe than friend .
a deceitful and calculating young man , whose voyeuristic proclivities mask a deeper and more profound understanding of life than any of the adults around him .
mr .
bentley 's performance is the one troublesome note in the film .
that is simply because the character is such a grand and complete liar , that one almost faults the performance for it .
director sam mendes handles all of the particulars of the cast and the settings with a sure and composed style that is neither intrusive nor subtle .
scenes of carolyn walking through the rain , carry an ominous fission that calls attention to the emotions of the character .
the subtle cinematography by conrad hall is wonderful , capturing the season in all of it 's harsh beauty
( fall has never looked so inviting , yet depressing ) .
every nuance of " american beauty " begs it 's audience to think and examine .
it is a film that will be discussed and debated for years to come .
and well it should , as
it is simply one of this years best .

P

