I have no idea where to start this review.  If you didn't get it from the first paragraph, there's really no reason not to see this film.  American Beauty stars Kevin Spacey as a burnt-out writer for a magazine, living a life that he compares to a step above hell - where the only reason he lives his life is so that he can masturbate in the shower each morning.  He has a wife, one kid, and lives in the all-American house with the white picket fence and a red door.  His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), is a realtor who tries to persuade herself into thinking she is living the perfect life.  Their daughter Jane (Thora Birch), is insecure, saving money for breast implants, and believes she is ordinary.  Her friend Angela (Mena Suvari), is an aspiring model who has sex with any man who wants her.  Their next door neighbors, Jim and Jim, are "partners," and on the other side live Colonel Fitts, his wife Barbara and their son, Ricky - a shy and reserved boy who has his own special quirks.   Beneath the surface of all these people lies another person, itching to get out and show their true colors.  Thus the tagline for this film, ...look closer.  If we do look closer, it is amazing what we will discover.

American Beauty is everything a film should be.  The cinematography and direction are simply spectacular.  From sweeping camera shots to a signature shot that gets repeated until fruition (you'll know what I mean when you see the film), there is nothing wrong with this movie.  The colors are vibrant and the color red throughout the film is very symbolic and represented perfectly.  The acting is similar.  All actors turn in great performances.  Kevin Spacey as a 42-year-old going through a mid-life crisis and Annette Bening as his somewhat psychotic wife turn in performances of a lifetime.  Relatively new to the screen, Mena Suvari (American Pie) and Wes Bentley (Beloved), also deliver spectacular performances.   I was especially surprised to see Mena Suvari turn in such a riveting performance after cringing at most of the acting in American Pie.  Child actress, Thora Birch (Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger), shows that she can make the transition into adult acting as she plays an "ordinary" girl with so much waiting to be discovered within.  The screenplay, however, is what truly makes the film.  Original in all aspects of the word, Alan Ball has done a magnificent job in writing a screenplay which is able to meld all of these complex characters together without losing any of the complexity.  As is standard in most films, introducing so many characters leaves little time to develop them all thoroughly, but in American Beauty, each character is defined and unique with a personality that one must ...look closer to see.

While the title may be deceiving and the trailer misleading, there really is no good way to describe American Beauty.  It's a dark comedy with a mix of drama, but American Beauty goes beyond that.  Sure, you get some laughs at times and a tear forms at others, but the remarkable thing about American Beauty is the power to move.  Walking out of the theater, I had a new outlook on life in general.   Remember the quote, "today is the first day of the rest of your life"?   Well, just remember, according to 42-year-old Lester Burnham (Spacey), that's true everyday until the day you die.

User comments:
» You were on the money with your review.... That movie probably changed my whole outlook on life. Rarely have I been moved by art to such extent.
» American Beauty is amazing. Go see it.
» This has to be one of the, if ot the best movie, I have seen this year. Spacey was great, the supporting cast was also quite good. There were several parts of the movie that were very surreal and just sucked me into the movie.