An American Beauty of a Movie

Rating: 9/10 (16 December 2008)

I don't want to boast, but I have seen every movie to win Best Picture since 'Wings' back in 1929, and this is probably my favorite winner in this century. 'American Beauty' is really a magnificent story, but it's more than that. It displays a dirty part of the world that we all know is there, but we just don't want to think about.
The dreary gray world that Lester Burnham lives in would make Tim Burton so very proud, but it's Kevin Spacey's ever creepy monotone voice that gives Lester his personality. The childish, stupid way that he changes himself to try and impress his daughter's alluring friend Angela is the focal point of most of the story, but not the main draw.
The reason this movie won Best Picture is because of Wes Bentley. Though he has almost no other desirable credits, Bentley's portrayal of Ricky, the insightful, eerie next-door neighbor, lights the movie aflame. And that scene. That single scene that gained so much mockery over these nine years-- it's what got me. Something as simple as a white, plastic bag floating up and down in the air, that's all this movie needed.
Annette Bening gives a shudder-worthy performance as the fed-up wife. But more than that was the absolutely chilling and spot-on Frank Fits, played by Chris Cooper. There are no words for that performance. The look on his face when his secret is revealed is something that stays with you forever, but that you awkwardly will try to suppress from your mind.
The ending is something so truly poignant and beautiful, something that, in attempting to state that nothing ever ends nicely and nothing is perfect, made the movie perfect. And I mean that. I've gone over it and over it, but I cannot find a single thing about this magnificent film that I would alter. Not a single thing.