American Beautiful

Rating: 10/10 (11 December 2005)

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is suffering a mid-life crisis that affects the lives of his family which is made up of his super bitch of a wife Carolyn and rebelling daughter Jane who hates him. Carolyn is a real estate agent a little too wrapped up in her job who takes on an affair with business rival Buddy Kane.
Meanwhile Jane seems to fall in love with Ricky Fits, the strange boy next door who is a drug dealer/documentarian who lives under a roof governed by a very strict marine father and a speechless mother. Lester's mid-life crisis causes him to drastically change his life around when he quits his job and works at a fast food restaurant.
He starts working out to gain the attention of Angela, a friend of Jane's who brags about her sexual exploits every weekend. Lives change and not for the best.
American Beauty follow all the steps of a movie who will become something even bigger with the time. You don't understand all of this at first, but then you think about the movie and you see something you never see at the first viewing. The casting is simply perfect, Spacey, Benning, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper (who should have been nominated for an Oscar), Peter Gallagher and the underrated Mena Suvari who can make look good a movie by her unique presence.
The casting has been choosed step-by-step by the talented Sam Mendes who give us one of the most humanized 1930s flick in Road to Perdition and more recently, the wonderful war movie, ''Jarhead''. American Beauty tell you the story you want to hear, without any shadow of doubt, this has to be a movie that will live forever in our hearts!