Viewers may be drawn to a film by a favorite actor or an eye-catching preview.  They may have a particular interest in a movie because it belongs to a beloved genre.  But movie goers also occasionally step into the theater or rent a DVD in an attempt to discover an answer to the question: “What was all the fuss about?”  If you want to take a peak at some movies that have raised eyebrows or inspired animated exchanges of opinion, then start with these five fiery films—and judge the controversy for yourself.

American Beauty

The dark comedy American Beauty has inspired both ire and praise; it has been saddled with accusations of immorality and crowned with claims of positive virtue.  The controversy probably arises from the fact that the film could be interpreted in two different ways. Is it a typical Hollywood diatribe about the American dream and the nuclear family?  Does it present domestic felicity as a charade and maintain the stereotype that bourgeois life is utterly vapid, while at the same time elevating the perverse to the level of the profound? Or is it, in contrast, a film that shows how petty and deluded people can become when they allow ennui and self-pity to consume them, so that they ultimately cannot see—until almost too late—the very real beauty that is in their own, presumably "ordinary" lives? 

The movie seems uneven in its thematic presentation, and the message you take away from it may go a long way toward determining whether you love or hate it. Even those who are repelled by some of the scenes and values presented may ultimately interpret the movie positively.  In the very midst of the violence, perversion, loneliness, emptiness, and desperation depicted in the film, there arises a theme of gratitude for the beauty that has been infused into life by a "benevolent being."

Running Time: 122 minutes. 1999.  Rated R (nudity, sex, language, and violence).