Movie Review: American Beauty

American Beauty

In preparation to write this review, I pulled out my Awards Edition videotape of American Beauty and watched the movie once again, in its entirety. I'm more than a little pleased that repetition hasn't diminished my enjoyment of the movie a bit. It's still as much a treat as it was when I first had the pleasure of sitting in a darkened theatre on opening weekend.

Kevin Spacey is Lester Burnham, an ordinary guy who's disappointed he's living such an ordinary life. Annette Bening is his wife, Carolyn, who refuses to admit to a hint of ordinary-ness herself, but still feels empty inside. Thora Birch plays their disaffected daughter who spends a great deal of time wishing her parents would just leave her alone. Mena Suvari, that gorgeous blonde from American Pie, is a self-absorbed high school cheerleader who gets inappropriate attention from nearly every man she meets, including Lester. A chirpily cheerful homosexual couple lives on one side of the Burnham's suburban home; a disturbingly dysfunctional family is the new neighbor on the other side. And so the stage is set for subtle - and not-so-subtle - interactions between this ecclectic cast of characters which results in humor, melodrama, revelation, and horror.

Lester loses his job early in the film; his realtor wife is incensed. Their daughter is all but oblivious as she is simultaneously repelled and attracted to the video-voyeur boy who lives next door. Meanwhile, the struggles of each character to somehow realize happiness in life are slowly played out for us to see. Whether we recognize ourselves or not in an individual character, it's almost impossible not to empathize with their pain or to laugh at their joy.

If you're looking for a story that will wrap itself up in a whole and happy package at the end, American Beauty isn't the movie for you. But if you find a glimpse into a real life - with all its baggage and its unique gifts - to be satisfying, you'll find American Beauty to be one of the very best of its kind.

American Beauty won the Oscar® for Best Picture in 1999. Kevin Spacey won for Best Actor, Sam Mendes won for Best Director, and Alan Ball won for Best Screenplay. Annette Bening was nominated for Best Actress and, in my opinion, she should have also been a winner in 1999. Though Spacey is brilliant, Bening was positively incandescent in her portrayal of the struggling wife and mother wanting only to make her own mark - outside of family - on life.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: American Beauty is rated R for language, violence, and sexual situations and content. This is not a movie for children or even young teens. Those 18 and older, however, should get a great deal out of this movie on many levels, not least of which will be a very enjoyable two hours. A special note from Lady Liberty: Though short and not particularly graphic, a hotel sex scene in American Beauty gets my vote for best sex scene ever. Watch the movie and see if you don't agree.