Such a beautiful gem of a movie

Rating: 10/10 (15 December 2014)

I am writing this review for American Beauty after the third time in three weeks that I have watched it and it grows on me each time I watch it. The first time I watched it, I thought maybe this movie is more of a comedy than a drama but after watching it today, I can say this is definitely a drama with some funny moments in it which is what I want from a drama rather than it taking itself too seriously. Kevin Spacey, who is simply brilliant stars as Lester Burnham , a sexually frustrated, average American husband/father who is undergoing a mid-life crisis as he hates his job and his relationships with his wife Carolyn (played superbly by Annette Bening) and daughter Jane (Thora Birch) are strained due to a number of reasons, one being that he becomes attracted to his daughter's best friend, Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari). Add to that, the arrival of their new neighbours, the Fits, Frank (Chris Cooper), Ricky (Wes Bentley) and Barbara (Allison Janney) who seem to have problems of their own. All of these intertwining story lines, acting, music, directing and the script make this movie, in my opinion, an underrated classic of the 1990's which churned out some great movies and what a way to end the decade with a fantastic movie such as this. Hard for me to find a negative with this movie but positives from the movie are the storyline, the beautiful music and score of the movie, directing and of course, the cast of the movie which won the SAG Best Ensemble Award. With the cast, everyone knew their roles in the movie and played them accordingly, Kevin Spacey as the lovable loser, Annette Bening as the ambitious and materialistic wife, Thora Birch as the self esteem-less daughter and in one of her first big roles, Wes Bentley as Ricky, the likable next door neighbour who loves his camcorder and Jane's friend, Chris Cooper as Col Fits, a homophobic, strict disciplinarian father, Allison Janney as the silent wife, Mena Suvari as the egotistical best friend and even Peter Gallagher as Carolyn's real estate rival, Buddy Kane. This film deserved it's Oscar's for Best Picture, Best Director (Sam Mendes), Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography as well as the other nominations including Best Actress-Annette Bening but in saying that, I thought the acting standouts besides the two leads could have been nominated as well including Best Supporting Actress- Thora Birch or Best Supporting Actor- Chris Cooper who put in one of the performances of the year 1999 and has stuck with me ever since or Wes Bentley; either one, take your pick, they were both great.