Going into this film I expected to see what many call “one of the greatest American films ever made.” It all goes so well and is very intriguing for about an hour, before it all starts to get boring and fall apart. I truly cannot understand the praise for this film. I love Isabell Rossellini. She does a fantastic job but I find the rest of the cast to be very lackluster. One of the so-called “greatest villains in the history of cinema” is Frank Butler, played by Dennis Hopper. He also does an admirable job, but his performance is all surface. Does eccentricity equal greatness? I don’t think so. His performance is as weird as it gets, but his motivations are weak and his actions seem forced. However, all of this is fine until the second half of the film, when the narrative structure just kind of fizzles and we’re left with a run-of- the mill hollywood ending. Yes, some say that that’s the point. That the mechanical Robin is supposed to mean something. That evil is always just around the corner and suburbia hides dark secrets. That’s all great, but American Beauty does a similar thing, but does it much better.