Very interesting, funny and original take on family life...

Rating: Null/10 (19 August 2003)

..."American Beauty" tells the touching tale of the last year of Lester Burnham's (Kevin Spacey) life. At the start of the movie, Lester lives with his wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) and his daughter Jane (Thora Birch) and is basically invisible. His wife ignores him and his daughter hates him, and he can't do anything about it. Except, one night he meets Jane's friend Angela (Mena Suvari) and decides to turn his life around. He quits work, starts working out, and buys pot from the boy next door (Wes Bentley). This angers Carolyn and freaks out Jane, and eventually leads to Lester's death (don't worry, that wasn't a spoiler).
The two best performances in "American Beauty" are that of Spacey as Lester and Bening as Carolyn. Spacey is funny and laid back, and a delight to watch on screen. Bening, though going a little "over the top" with her performance, also does very well. The ensemble cast makes this not only one of the best dramas out there, but one of the funniest and most entertaining movies of all time.
The only disappointment I had with the movie are the nude scenes from Birch and Suvari. They both just seem a little unnecessary, and could have been avoided easily. It seems that they were only put in to attract the hordes of teen boys that would just love to see Suvari nude.
Aside from the nude scenes, "American Beauty" is a great watch, 9/10.