The story is fairly stereotypical. Elements include a rebellious teenager , an overworking father, and mentally unbalanced mother, who was a beauty queen in college! The acting is very good, but the story is contrived.

Some reviewers are disappointed that it didn't live up to the category of psychological family drama or missing person crime thriller and I wonder if this movie even BELONGS in either category; and really why does a movie have to fit any category? If you go into an experience with a boxed in expectation, nothing done will satisfy you. I sat down to watch this film not even knowing that Fanning was in it and that's how I like it. Personally, I thought the daughter was born to be more sensitive to the world than others; I was quite like her when I was a young child and still am. Swede and his wife, Dawn didn't take the stuttering seriously enough and didn't believe that it was emotions driven. You have parents who know that they are special and to a child this self-knowledge might put them in a place of feeling inferior, that she cant live up. That's how i saw Merry. All the hurt she felt turned to a general hate of the world, and she gravitated to like- minded people in a very confusing time for our country and a very vulnerable time for Merry. I told my son, I would have let her go as soon as I heard that she was suspected in the first bombing. The fact that neither parent could even fathom their Merry being involved showed me just how lofty of an opinion they had about their child and themselves. The moment I really came to that realization is when I truly understood why Merry did what she did. The mental breakdown of Dawn really surprised me and the face lift thing...it further proved how I felt about the family. When Swede finally finds Merry and she is living as a Jain in an abandoned house; here's where the movie awkwardly weird for me. Fanning didn't do a good job in her acting. I just didn't believe her in these scenes. She's Dakota Fanning in makeup to me. I was left a little confused about the role of Rita and how she knew so much about Merry only to discover in that moment that she was never sent by Merry and it fell flat. What was the point of it? When both ladies decided to get out this revolutionary thing they were involved in, "broke ties" how is that Rita knows where she works and even what she now does for a living. I now want to read the book because I suspect that the book to screenplay didn't go well. This movie has made me sit and think and want to talk to my son about it, who watched it a while back. That is what a good movie should do, not quench some desire to figure out what category it belongs in. I didn't care for the ending. So much was left undone about this movie. For Swede to die, leaving us to wonder about the holes in this film and for Merry to wait until the end of the funeral, but now wait for everyone to leave...is she coming back into their lives?? If so, why would she needed to wait until her Daddy died?

This movie has strong characters in it. And I love the fact that Jennifer Connely plays a strong character. Or at least it seems that way (early on she has a great confrontation where she lets her acting muscles play), but unfortunately she has to take a back seat to Ewans character taking center stage later on. Him and Dakota Fannings relationship (also other actress playing his daughter) is elemental for this movie.A movie that is about growing up, about responsibilities and also about choices. And getting to the point of accepting certain things. There's a powerful scene late in the movie with Ewan and Jennifer and another parent that strikes more than a chord. And while these are the best moments, sometimes the movie does seem muddled, trying to hard to make a point/statement. Overall it does succeed though, which comes down to the actors in the main roles. Not an easy watch at all ...

This film tells the story of a middle class family in the a United States of America in the sixties, when there were political turmoil and social unrests. A teenage girl turns radical, leaving behind a trail of destruction and regret.I often have not liked films that are directed by actors or actresses. Hence, I have not expected "American Pastoral" to be so engaging. The interpersonal dynamics in the film are closing and convincing. I five myself trying to interpret how and why the girl turns out the way she dies. It is also a great plot point that the psychiatrist does know her stuff, and sees what is happening before other people figure it out. The contrasts between the reactions of the father and the mother after the tragedy, and also the contrasts between the speed of the subsequent recovery are astounding. I think this film is an engaging and thought provoking drama. I enjoyed it.