Human emotions and more ***** MILD SPOILERS ******

Rating: 9/10 (7 October 2004)

Of late i have been seeing a lot of contemporary classics. Foremost on any '90s top list is American Beauty. Beauty is a brilliant mixture of emotions and dark humor. Sam Mendes' work is really inspiring as was his later movie the Road to Perdition.
Lester Burnham (Spacey)the protagonist shows us his world. The trials and the tribulations faced by a middle aged man whose personal as well as professional life is in shambles. Brilliant portrayal here by Spacey, the best role of his career even better than the Usual Suspects. All round performances by Annette Benning, Mena Suvari, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper and Thora Birch definitely boost the movie. Here I mention almost the entire cast because they all do their roles perfectly.
My favorite scene was the plastic bag swirling in the wind thing the way it is described is really spellbinding. The beauty of the scene is brilliantly captured by the camcorder.
Benning as the troubled, I-want-it-all wife is brilliant. The way she portrays her sadness by crying shows the fact that she has been harassed to the extreme by Lesters attitude and tries her best to be independent but just cannot. Her having an affair is but a natural extension.
Chris Cooper is great as the gay hating, suspicious dad. A little more could have been mentioned about his past and his wife one feels.
MILD SPOILER *** Mena Suvari as the bitch that everyone just loves fits her character to a T. Here Mendes makes a turnaround in the end ( probably taking some personal dig) by saying she is still a virgin quite contrary to her characters actions and behaviour.
Birch and Bentley make a good pair and come up with good performances to match the theme of the movie. Their scenes together carries important details with respect to human frustration and irritation.
Thats about it, watch Beauty if you want to introspect, take a check on your life or just want 2 hours of good movie watching.
P.S - A memorable dialogue - When asked if he wants to exercise to become thin or fitter or build muscles, Lester replies " WELL I JUST WANT TO LOOK GOOD NAKED" Damn if that isn't the truth then what is ????