Lester Burnham the lead character played by Kevin Spacey is a 40 something guy who is experiencing a midlife crisis, he seems bored and pessimistic

Rating: 8/10 (5 February 2012)

"American Beauty" Lester Burnham the lead character played by Kevin Spacey is a 40 something guy who is experiencing a midlife crisis, he seems bored and pessimistic. Lester is married to Carolyn (Annette Bening) who is somewhat of a perfectionist on the surface she appears to have it all together, but inside she is falling apart. Lester also has a teenage daughter Jane (Thora Birch) who is also going through a difficult phase; she's insecure, and unhappy with herself and her parents. Jane's best friend Angela (Mena Suvari) is beautiful and relies solely on her looks to get through life. Lester has a crush on Angela and fantasizes about being with her, because of this crush Lester starts behaving strangely he's working-out and making other drastic changes to his life. Meanwhile the Burnham's have new neighbors the Fits family. The father Colonel Fits is a ex-marine he is very rigid and not very tolerant of people who are different from him, he has a teenage son Ricky who seems to be the target of most of Colonel Fits aggression. Ricky is a wannabe film maker and drug dealer who seems preoccupied with beautiful things.
The common thread that runs through the lives of each character seems to be discontentment; each character seems to be in search of something be it happiness or just the freedom to be themselves. In America we have the freedom to pursue happiness, but so many of us are unhappy. By all appearances the Burnham and Fits seem to be typical American families but behind closed doors they are restless and dissatisfied with their lives. Lester feels useless and has become complacent and I felt that his greatest desire is to feel again; to feel alive, and be relevant to those around him. Carolyn in her effort to be perfect has completely lost touch with the woman that she used to be. She wants those around her to view her as self-assured and poised, but inside she is slowly unraveling at the seams. Jane is a typical insecure teenager with not so typical parents; she is embarrassed by her Father's (Lester) abnormal fixation on her best friend Angela. Angela enjoys the attention from Lester, because her entire existence is based on others perceiving her as beautiful. The family next-door is headed by a controlling, narrow minded, militant father (Colonel Fits) who's stern views and neo-Nazi approach makes life very difficult for Ricky his teenage son; who seeks to escape the reality of his father's anger by the use of drugs and by what seems to be an unconscious decision to only look at life through the lens of his camera.
The movie "Gran Torino" has some of the same common themes; the characters had preconceived notions about people who were different than them. There was also the search for purpose and relevance. The movies both had teenagers in search of their own identities, separate from their parents. In several of the scenes the lighting was directly focused on one individual character a lot like a spot light. In one particular scene Lester and his wife are at Jane's school watching her performance; this is when his infatuation with Angela first started. During the girls performance the music tempo slowed and everyone in the room disappeared with the exception of Lester and Angela. The light was shining directly on Angela and the camera was going back and forth from Angela to Lester as she danced; this was a great use of the director's interpretive point of view. The director wanted the viewer to feel the intensity that Lester was feeling as he imagined that Angela's performance was just for him; his very own private little show. Also I found the camera shots from Ricky perspective unique' whenever he was looking at the world through his camera the shot appeared to be a little fuzzy to give the viewer the feeling of looking at the world through the lens of a camera. The theme is a common theme of many American lives. Ultimately we all want to feel happiness and relevance, but we often get caught up in our daily lives and lose site of what's really important in life, only to wake up one day and realize that time has gotten away from us and we haven't truly been living at all; just simply existing and going through the motions.