Have you ever had that situation where you read about a movie and it receives all this critical acclaim and you wonder if it really is any good? Well American Beauty is one of those movies, and yes it is as good as the critics say.
This movie is a gift, a true American masterpiece, even though it was directed by a Brit. Kevin Spacey must and will win the Oscar for his truly brilliant performance as Lester Burnham, a 42 year-old man who undergoes the most hillarious mild-life crisis that I have ever seen depicted on film. Lester does sporadic voice-overs through the movie and tells us how he has been sleeping through most of his life and now he finally wakes up. The wake-up is brought on when Lester meets his daughter Jane's friend, Angela Hayes. Angela is a girl who spends her time spinning yarns on the schoolyard about how she did a photographer so she could further her modeling career. Lester spends his time fantasizing about Angela like some Lolita love goddess from Greek mythology. Angela inspires Lester to get into shape after he overhead her say she'd do him if he were a little more buffed. Lester also ditches his job and extorts sixty-thousand dollars from his boss in the process, and decides to take a job at a fast-food restaurant! All this and smoking hash that he buys from the next door neighbors kid.
In the meantime, his wife, played by another soon to be Oscar winner, Annette Bening, is in the middle of her own her own inner turmoil. She tries to be an independent successful real estate agent, just like her rival, Buddy King, but ends up falling flat and feeling worthless about herself. Eventually she ends up having an affair with her rival and starts taking back control and having fun in her own life.
And then their is their daughter Jane, a typical teenager who hates herself and her body and plans on augmenting her breasts. That is until she meets Ricky Fitts, the boy who moves in next door. Ricky spends his time filming scenes from life because he believes there is beauty in everything, even a paper bag being blown about in the wind. At first Ricky seems like a wacko but then shows that he is a deep and intense person that Jane can connect to.
The point of the relationships in American Beauty, no matter how sick or wrong they are, is that they bring about an awakening within the characters, like a blooming rose(which are featured throughout the movie).
The ending is not a happy one, but it does stay with the audience long after you leave the theatre. The message is to cherish all the small insignificant moments of your life, because there is beauty in everything and life is too precious to just sit back and watch it pass by. By the end of this movie you will feel refreshed and emotionally lighter. I personally saw this film as an instruction on how to live my life, on how not to miss out on the little things and to appreciate those little things more and more and not things that society tells us to celebrate. If you don't understand what I'm saying, don't worry, you will.
A middle-aged man confronts the reality of his suburban life. His marriage is in shambles. His daughter doesn't acknowledge his existence. But a chanc...More at HotMovieSale.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.