American Beauty Review

American Beauty is one of those films someone tells you over and over again to see, but you never listen because you're too busy or just don't care. Then, one day, you come across it, watch it, and realize how shockingly good it is. You want to call up the person who told you to watch it, but you can't remember who it was and feel awful for ignoring them in the first place.

So yeah, American Beauty is wonderful. I know I have a tendency to over-adulate, but American Beauty is the real deal. It won five Oscars back in 2000, including Best Picture, and Best Actor (Kevin Spacey). The film launched the career of director Sam Mendes, who won an Oscar for his work and has since brought us Road to Perdition and Jarhead.

American Beauty follows Lester Burnham (Spacey), your typical office drone running into a mid-life crisis. Lester begins to change his entire lifestyle; smoking pot, buying a vintage car, and working out to impress his high-school age daughter's gorgeous best friend Angela (Mena Suvari, American Pie), who he has fallen in love with. This of course, causes him to grow distant from his unfaithful, WASPy wife (Annette Bening, Running With Scissors) and his daughter Jane. Jane has her own important subplot, being semi-stalked by her new next-door neighbor Ricky, who has severe emotional issues caused by his hard-ass Marine father (Chris Cooper).

From the plot summary, you can tell that the characterizations are not particularly new, but they all work due to the strength of the performances. Among his classic roles in Se7en and The Usual Suspects, Kevin Spacey does his best work as Lester. His infatuation with Angela could have been a creepy, Humbert Humbert-Lolita type relationship, but seeing Lester's light up when he sees her for the first time brings everyone back to their first childhood crush. Audiences can't help but feel inspired by the intense exercise regimen Lester adopts, which is similar to the rings one would jump through to attain true love.


Annette Bening also gives a career performance, bringing life to a role that could have descended in to self-parody. Her breakdown into tears after she fails to sell a house (she's a real estate agent) sums up her character without a spoken word. Chris Cooper is one of those actors that's excellent in his every role, bringing vulnerability and depth to a despicable, bigoted Marine Colonel.

Part of the film's brilliance is its willingness to show all life philosophies in a balanced light. Even though Lester is the clear protagonist, the film frowns upon his new free-wheeling attitude as much as it celebrates it. American Beauty never preaches that everyone should become as lackadaisical as Lester in order to "live life to the fullest." It shows the two extremes : apathy and egotism (Lester) versus rigidity and responsibility (the Colonel),allowing the audience to come to their own conclusions on how to live their life.

Sam Mendes doesn't dumb the film down for his viewers. When we are first introduced to Lester's wife Carolyn, he narrates, "See the way the handle on those pruning shears matches her gardening clogs? That's not an accident." Those two sentences say everything we need to know about Carolyn through subtle, witty dialogue. American Beauty is filled with like-minded moments, which rely on delivery and facial expressions to convey characterizations and emotions.

Our generation is more likely to have seen Not Another Teen Movie, so you'll be familiar with the character of Ricky. Ricky is an off-beat kid who films with hand-held camera, chiefly objects that remind him of death and spirituality. One of his recordings is the famous scene involving a plastic bag floating around in the wind, which causes him to choke up with the immortal line, "Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it..." Sure it sounds idiotic, but it works in the context of the film. Ricky's unpredictable behavior leads him to constantly defy the viewer's expectations. You'll find him to be either infuriating or fascinating.

I won't bother you with the incredible cinematography and all that, but just pay attention to the way Mendes frames shots and his use of the color red (especially in the roses) and you'll find a greater appreciation for the movie.

The film closes with a beautiful cover of The Beatles' "Because" by Eliot Smith. This is kind of out of place, but it was perfect.

Watch American Beauty whenever you get the chance. It's an American classic.

***** out of *****

"For you Brad, I have five minutes!"