Gah if I hated anything more then AB its the way it was recieved as some sort of profound statement on the 'banality of it all'. It struck me as totally derivative and obvious from start to finish.
How much do you really see that isn't derivative of something that came before it? The real crime in that is that it takes away from the original works. I'm not sure why I like American Beauty as much as I do, but some movies people like more than they should. I think I might just leave it at I like Kevin Spacey a lot and in the end I like most of his movies even if they are kind of preachy and boring (Life of David Gale I'm looking at you).