The films depth comes from many, many angles.

1) Pay attention to the beginning of the film and its meaning.

2) The MUSIC (wonderfully done by Aimee Mann) is JUST as important as the

dialogue. This means the movie requires several viewings, at least once to
concentrate on the music, and the next time on the dialogue, to get the meaning.

3) Pay VERY good attention to a certain Biblical reference. This particular reference
occurs over 20 times during the movie. It appears about 4 times alone in the
beginning commentary.

4) Pay VERY good attention to references made about the Freemasons. There are
about 6-7 references to this, most of them appearing during the Quiz Show and the
story about the boy whiz kid. This is very important.

5) Note some of the VERY good comments made by certain characters. For
example, comments about “confusing children with angels” are very powerful
especially since it links William H Macy's character with the whiz boy (no pun
intended).

6) Note ALL the connections between the characters portrayed, and try to link them
together in a cohesive pattern. You'll be VERY surprised at the results.

There are, of course, smaller points within the film, but these are plenty enough to
concentrate upon.

Of course, this is quite a lot of work for one film, and that's why I can't understand
how people can be "bored" with the film. There's so much to do and think about!
But then, like I said, most people's attention span and the lack of intellectual
interest means that the movie goes right over their heads. Maybe that IS pompous,
but hey, it's not the director's fault that you don't get it