AMERICAN PASTORAL

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 ROG'S VIEWPOINT - The marriage between a star athlete (Ewan McGregor) and a beauty queen (Jennifer Connelly) begins to disintegrate when their rebellious daughter (Dakota Fanning) becomes a revolutionary during the Vietnam War. Philip Roth's sweeping novel is
reduced to soap opera level with no characters to really root for - maybe a bit of pity for McGregor's Swede Levov. The star is also making his directorial debut with this film and the result is less than gratifying. It's not quite an American tragedy, but it comes close. **

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