This should've been called "Ordinary Degenerates".

Rating: 3/10 (28 April 2000)

I don't think this was a bad film, but I resent having it compared to such great films as Ordinary People, Kramer Vs. Kramer, and Terms of Endearment. Those movies dealt with real characters, with real world problems. The only grounded characters in American Beauty are the gay couple down the street. I don't understand why this movie has been treated as "The Darling of 1999". I realize that all of these situations exist in today's world, but to have them all in one family is a little too far-fetched for me. American Beauty was a distant third behind The Green Mile and The Sixth Sense for my Oscar choice. I felt bad for Annette Bening's loss however ....perhaps if her character were into necrophilia she would have won.