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American Beauty (The Awards Edition) Customer Reviews (91 - 93 of 109 Reviews)

The Best Film I Have Seen In Over 5 Years!
Writer, Alan Ball's (of Six Feet Under fame) first theatrical script blurs those stereotypical slow death in suburbia lines and keeps the viewer off balance throughout the entirety of the film.

This film, is, above all, a deeply moving drama. The suburbanite, highly dysfunctional, Burnham Family is sad, enchanting, sickening, wonderful, confusing, tragic, abhorrent, and every other adjective listed in Websters. That is precisely what makes this film a true "one-of-a-kind".

Mr. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey)is daily pitted against his icy, cheating, manic, depressed, totally materialistic realtor of a psudo-wife, Carolyn (Annette Beining) and his quite sullen, self-absorbed, ambivolent, teenaged daughter, Jane (Thora Birch).

However, into Lester & Jane's lives come two very achingly beautiful & wonderful human beings. Jane's fellow cheerleader confidant Angela Hayes-note the Nabokov/Lolita reference in the last name-(Mena Suvari) who has a penchant for older men and a huge crush on Jane's daddy, jolts Lester into a sexual epiphany that makes Lester's life worth living again. He daily fantasizes about She makes him feel like a bumbling, pimplefaced teenager on his first date and all of these meetings between the two really blooms into kind of a second adolescence for the harried Lester. An eerily calm, young next door neighbor, Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) and his lifelong Marine Corps father, Col. Frank Fitts, USMC (Chris Cooper) add much drama.

The whole cast turns out top-notch performances and the score, cinematography & direction are utterly "dreamlike".

Highly recommended!

Happy Watching!

Hollywood Slick Meets Character Study - A Perfect Blend
The main reason I wanted to add my comments was that I saw no other mention of Allison Janney. If you are a fan of hers, watch for her understated and stunning, albeit small, performance as the timid mother of Ricky (Barbara Fitts). This performance truly demonstrates the range and untapped talent of the great actress. (Yes, I'm a big fan.)

Having said that, this film does start out making you feel your watching an overslick production of Hollywood banality. Oh contraire (sp?). My favorite films delve deep into character study and development (e.g. Dolores Claiborne, Shawshank Redemption, Dangerous Liaisons, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sophie's Choice, Fried Green Tomatoes). This film gives it to you in spades.

If you enjoy stories that make you think you've got everyone figured out, then prove you wrong...this is a must see.

Look Closer
In my opinion, American Beauty is one of the greatest films ever made. It's got everything...great acting, a terrific plot (some say it's contrived, but I say that's ridiculous), fantastic cinematography, and fabulous symbolisms throughout. Kevin Spacey turns in his best performance yet (in my opinion) as Lester, the "middle aged, can't stand my boring corporate job, there's got to be more to life than this, my wife is a money-grubbing freak" man that will try anything to break free from his monotonous lifestyle. The movie functions around the phrase "Look Closer." In fact a sign with that phrase is posted on Lester's cubicle wall at work. The premise behind this phrase is that from the outside, everyone appears to be normal, but it's not until you see life from a much closer point of view when you find that everyone has their own quirks and idiosyncratic shortcomings that make life out to be very challenging.

There are so many memorable quotes from this film. These quotes will stick in your head for days and you will crave a second and even third viewing of this movie. Sam Mendes' big screen directing debut is nothing short of phenomenal and judging by "Road to Perdition", his future work will no doubt be great.

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