 How does the author feel about Carolyn?
He peers through tired eyes out the window at his manicured suburban tract-house lawn, where his wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening)--whose gardening clogs, he points out, are color-coordinated with the handles of her shears--snips roses (American beauties) and twitters about Miracle-Gro to a gay yuppie (Scott Bakula) on the other side of a white picket fence. The script, by Alan Ball, a playwright and former sitcom writer, carries an invigorating blast of counterculture righteousness, along with the kind of pithily vicious marital bickering that makes some viewers (especially male) say, "Yeah! Lester's wife, Carolyn, is even more stridently caricatured. That's the theme here, too, and it's extraordinarily potent, at times even heartbreaking.
 Carolyn tries very hard to appear perfect and in control. It's hard to feel animosity toward her.
 Carolyn is confident, composed, and in control.  Carolyn is a primal force.  Carolyn tries very hard to appear perfect and in control. It's hard to feel animosity toward her.  Carolyn is shrill.