She produces lies about her life to make it look like she is beautiful but the reality is that she has just built a lie but Lester she her in the light of her beauty, the way she want s people to see her.
Ricky, who is played by Wes Bentley, is Jane's boyfriend, is first seen as the "weird "person but minutes later is the most wise. He constantly is holding a camera and filming things that he thinks is beautiful. Ricky uses his camera as an extension of his eyes and heart and thinks everything beautiful especially Jane.
Then, there is Ricky's father played by Chris cooper, the colonel, a supposedly tough man who misunderstands Ricky and Lester's relationship as a homosexual relationship that he ironically yearns for himself.
Apparently this is a tale of people with an attraction to other people. The film sees through these obsessions as well as the characters and makes a realization that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that life, although has made a wrong turn, can always be changed.
At the peak of the story Lester quits his job and bribes his manager for money. He then, gets a job at a fast food restaurant and buys a 1970 Pontiac Firebird the car he's always wanted. At this point Lester realizes that possessions aren't important life. In a scene which Carolyn confronts Lester about his new car, he then tries to make Carolyn realize how much he loves her and she says "Lester watch the couch don't spill beer on the couch" and Lester replies "It's just a couch! This isn't life! Its just stuff!" At this climax of the film Lester knows his wife is so consumed in the couch and material things she no longer sees the beauty in life. And the life they once had. This is one of the most important parts of this movie because it shows not only how these characters are so caught up in a certain way of living but also how the viewers are shown how they are caught up in this same way of living.
