Everything you want in a movie

Rating: 10/10 (23 January 2001)

"American Beauty" had everything you want in a movie. It was dramatic, funny, sad, and brought you joy. If something can give you all those feelings in a matter of about two hours, it truly is meaningful.
"American Beauty" truly was meaningful. It was a masterpiece in contemporary film-making. It was such a great movie because everybody could relate to or have known at least one character types in the movie. This reminds of "Breakfast Club" because that movie was a character cross-section of just about every high-schooler in the country. As meaningful as "Breakfast Club" was to teens, "American Beauty" was to families. "American Beauty" is the story of a man breaking free of everything that hinders him from true happiness: his wife, his job, his responsibility. But this film was more than just the liberation of a man, it was the story of the darker side of suburban families. The overbearing, dominant wife, the repressed father, the unhappy, confused teen. Is there any other better description of a suburban family? "American Beauty" tells the story of their lives, and the people they meet, and the development which takes place. "American Beauty" was just full of unique, well casted characters who showed how they lived and how their actions affected others. Besides a good plot and characters, "American Beauty" was also wonderfully directed. The film has it's own look, not bright or happy, or even repressed and depressing, but just it's own look. If you watch the movie, you'll notice the crisp look of the images. It is no wonder that Sam Mendes won the Academy Award for Best Director.
If you want to witness film-making history in the making, see this movie, and the influence it will surely have on potential films. Take my word for it, you'll enjoy this movie.
My rating: 10/10