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American Beauty (The Awards Edition) Customer Reviews (46 - 48 of 109 Reviews)

American Masterpiece
I always enjoy reading the reviews of controversial books and films. The ones that entertain me the most are those in which the reviews claims that those who enjoyed the movie are demented, that any sane or intelligent person would have hated the film, that the true intelligentsia would despise it.

Naturally, American Beauty got quite a few such reviewers. I humbly disagree with them.

This movie is, in my opinion, sheer genius. I was captivated by Kevin Spacey's opening monologue, and hardly blinked throughout the rest of the film, except to blink back tears during Spacey's closing speech. The music is almost hypnotic; the pacing is perfect. Scenes are as beautiful as paintings, and symbolism is rife. I've watched the movie five times now, and haven't tired of it. There's always something more to discover, another layer of meaning to be unraveled.

The acting is not perfect. I agreed with the Academy's decision not to give Annette Bening the Oscar; and while Kevin Spacey was brilliant, the three adolescents all had "off" moments. But this is such a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things. I was so captivated by the overall impact of the film that I didn't even notice until a later viewing.

Borrow it, rent it, or buy it. This is a must-see.

"So Much Beauty In this World that it Hurts"
In 1999 the Academy Awards folks finally got things right by giving it's top awards to the film, "American Beauty". This definitely was the best movie put out that year. A modern classic in the making. In this era of Hollywood blockbusters, where special effects and noise seem to take precedence over well written sripts and acting, it is a true pleasure to find such an articulate, meaningful and well made film. This is the story of an upper middle class family, who's lives are turned upside down, when outsiders seperately come into their world. A father, mother and a teenage daughter all experience emotional awakenings and transformations, that later will have strong repercussions on thier lives.In the end this is a film about finding beauty and happiness in this world. Alan Ball (of HBO's "Six Feet Under") has written a brilliant script which seems to make you want to laugh and cry at the same time.Director Sam Mendes has pulled off an audacious debut which skillfully brings this story to life.The acting in this film is first rate. Kevin Spacey is fantastic as Lester Birnaum, a man who is just waking up to life. Equaly great is Annettte Bening as his materialistic wife. West Bentley and Thora Birch, who play the teenage lovers, are a real find. I predict both these talented young actors will have very successful careers. As a whole, this is very well packaged and good looking DVD, which is loaded with extras.My favorite of them is the excellent commentary track that director Sam Mendes provides, about the making of the movie.This DVD is well worth your while.

Visually stunning and utterly repellent.
There's a scene in American Beauty in which a teenaged boy is found filming a dead bird by two girls his age. They ask him why, and he explains, "Because it's beautiful." That's one opinion: another, which also applies to "American Beauty," is that no matter how beautifully you light, film and score it, something foul and rotten is still foul and rotten.

Director Sam Mendes is clearly gifted; cinematographer Conrad Hall's use of color and light is stunning; the music is haunting, and the cast talented, and even Alan Ball's script shows a deliberate intelligence too many movies lack. But none of these elements can disguise the fact that this movie is sad, cynical and sick at heart. It's a mean-spirited chronicle of suburbia as hell which tries to patch itself over with a feel-good moral and fails utterly.

With the possible exception of one semi-redeeming choice Kevin Spacey's character makes at the end of the film, none of the main characters exhibit any likeable or even remotely worthwhile traits. Spacey's Lester Burnham goes from being a wimp to an arrogant lecher; Annette Benning as his wife is a shrill Martha Stewart caricature; Mena Suvari, as Burnham's teenaged lust object, is profoundly unlikeable; Thora Birch's daughter character is selfish and sullen; her creepy love interest, boy-next-door Wes Bentley, deals drugs when he's not filming her obsessively. Then there's Bentley's abusive ex-Marine dad... the list goes on and on.

No one is having a good time in American Beauty. Everyone is miserable. And the one person who figures out a way to escape that misery is horribly dead soon after. There is a worthwhile message in American Beauty, as well as one utterly lovely scene involving nothing more than a videotape of a windblown plastic bag. But the brighter elements of this movie feel hastily tacked on to its warped, unrealistically dark world view, and in the end they cannot compensate for the utter, gaping landfill where this film's moral center ought to be.

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