Please be advised . . . *SERIOUS SPOILERS!*

Lester Burnham is a man who is barely there. He has forgotten who he is and what he wants. He goes to work every day. He bows to his wife. He is not really alive. Until . . .

Carolyn, Lester's wife, drags him to a high school basketball game to watch their daughter, Jane, dance in the half-time show. Dancing with Jane and the other "Spartanettes" is Angela Hayes, the sexpot of the school. Angela is a beautiful blonde who puts stars in Lester's eyes, and brags about her sexual exploits to everyone.

When Lester meets Angela, something stirs in him. Meeting Angela causes a chain reaction of surprising and wonderful events in Lester's life.

He quits his boring and unfulfilling job and blackmails the magazine for which he wrote for a year's salary and benifits.

Lester overhears Angela saying that she would sleep with Lester if he just worked out a little. So . . . Lester begins running and pumping iron (he looks damn sexy while he's doing it, too!) and turns himself into a buff babe.

Lester also meets Ricky Fitts, an eighteen year old boy who lives next door to Lester, who happens to sell marijuana. Lester, of course, starts smoking to help ease his tension. In the process, Jane falls in love with Ricky.

Lester's wife, Carolyn, has an affair with her real estate rival, Buddy Kane. Lester finds out about the affair when Carolyn and her gun-shooting lover pull up at the drive-thru at which Lester has taken a job. "Smile! You're at Mr. Smiley's!"

Ricky's dad, Colonel Frank Fitts, a repressed homosexual, believes Ricky is sleeping with Lester, when in reality, he is just selling him some marijuana. Colonel Fitts tries to initiate sex with Lester, and when Lester refuses, the colonel silently walks back home.

Lester then gets his chance to seduce Angela. She is supposed to be spending the night with Jane, but she and Jane have a fight when Ricky busts in and begs Jane to runaway to New York with him because the Colonel had just thrown him out for being a "faggot."

Lester finds Angela in the living room, upset from her argument with Jane. He kisses and woos her until he finds out she is really a virgin. He wraps her in a sweater and tells her everything will be all right.

Later, Lester is looking at a picture of himself, Carolyn, and Jane. He realizes that he really loves his wife and daughter. He realizes that he is happy. As he's staring at the picture, a gun is pointed at his head from behind, and Colonel Fitts pulls the trigger, murdering Lester.

In a voice-over, Lester tells us that he's not upset about what happened to him. He is grateful for every moment of his life. . .

So what's the moral? . . .

I think it's that no matter what happens to you, you must seek out the good, the light, the happiness, because life is what you make it. It's as simple as that.

If you agree, disagree, want to chat . . .

Please email me: kevinspaceysgrl@yahoo.com