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American Beauty (The Awards Edition) Customer Reviews (19 - 21 of 109 Reviews)

Insightful and cliched - the ultimate Baby-boomer film
Books are normally my area of review, so in an indirect way that is a compliment to American Beauty. The movie ranks among literature - it is not just another two hour thrill fest on a Sunday afternoon. I am nowhere near Lester's age yet, so I cannot say how accurate that portrayal is of a mid-life crisis. Yet, it seems pretty close to what I imagine. The bureaucracy and the narrowing capture a long-standing baby-boomer complaint. They don't want to be their parents. Appropiately enough, the kids of the baby-boomers do not want to their parents...the original rebels. So where does it end?

The shame is that while you were tearing down order to live your own life, you deprived everyone of what you so long for. Baby-boomers: I am truly sorry, but your legacy will be a terrible and painful lesson for us all. I am the age of your child, and just old enough to think for myself. You yourselves rebeled against your parents (my grandparents), and now you are shocked to find your lives vapid, rootless and resembling the joke minus the punchline? Is Lester not all of these things? The only thing that makes his life sensible is ultimately his death, an event that he speaks of from beyond the grave. You thought you could redefine the world in a single lifetime. How wrong you were. You are past middle-age. The rubber hits the road.

American Beauty was insightful, and that is a testament to the true creator of the film - Alan Ball. Your metaphors were sound, and the dialogue was fluid. You only slipped into the cliche of all writers of recent vintage: that is, the true believer has something to hide. If someone is patriotic enough to be in the military, he must covering something up - and something as cliched as latent homesexuality of the military father! You truly failed in that way, Mr. Ball. You proved yourself a better writer than that - live up to it. Write for the non-Hollywoods, if you dare. Baby-boomers, I am sorry for you. I have never seen a more self-absorbed, self-righteous generation. I am of my grandparents generation; I always found more in the naive wisdom of their generation than the political slogans of yours. Your legacy will die with you. It could be no other way.


Masterwork made from ordinary materials
The entire movie, while portraying a guy at a dead end in life, has an energy and suspense to it that keeps you watching.

You know throughout the movie that a lot is not right in this comfy suburban paradise. It seems that everyone in the film is off track, and gradually losing it. You wonder whether outside forces will crush the main character, Lester Burnham,brilliantly played by Kevin Spacey. Or whether he will explode.

This is one of my favorite Spacey films. His redemption films like Pay It Forward do not appeal to me.

Really worth seeing more than once. Of course, if the mere setting of movie in "blissful American suburbia" makes you cringe, this is not for you. But if you can get past that, it's a terrific film.

Nothing Short of a Modern Masterpiece
American Beauty is without a doubt the freshest, funniest, honest, and most insightful film in memory.

It tells the story of Lester Burhnam (Kevin Spacey), the seemingly average, suburban man. He has it all; a lovely wife (Annette Benning), a cheerleader daughter(Thora Birch), a job for a major corproration, and a large house. But the film asks us to "look closer" and it does just that. We can clearly see that his life, marriage, and relationships are crumbling. He is going through a midlife crisis, wondering what he has done with his life to make it worthwhile. He quits his job and tries to seduce his daughter's best friend (Mena Suvari). The movie desplays not only his struggle, but the struggle of all the supporting character to see the beauty in life.

The acting is certainly a standout. Spacey leads a cast that all inhabit their roles to surprising lengths. Each line is said to seeming perfection, and comes across and understandable and believeable.

It is the directoral debut for Sam Mendes, who does an astonishingly great job. Each shot seems to have a purpose, and it if facinating to watch their lives intertwine.

The screenplay is what makes the film a classic, though. The diolauge is fresh and crisp, while at the same time believeable. It is also incredibly funny and satirical, despite a strong subject matter (a lot of people find it odd that I laughed at a movie about a pedophile).

Overall, American Beauty is an example of what happens when everything in a movie is done to perfection. It will become a classic representation of the movies of our generation. See what all the hype is about.

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