An overrated tale about middle class America that is only held together by Kevin Spacey's performance

Rating: 6/10 (10 April 2018)

1999 must have been a time to rebel against the system. Both Fight Club and American Beauty came out to great acclaim and have gained a cult following since. Their message of toppling society and pointing out all its wrongs had great appeal during a time when consumerism was at its peak. In my mind, American Beauty fairs just slightly better than Fight Club, but don't consider that a compliment. Even though Kevin Spacey gives an astounding performance that deservedly got him an Oscar, the rest of the crew fail to live up to expectations and surprisingly were still rewarded for it with another four Oscars, including Best Picture.
Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a weak, depressed man. He lives in his upper-class suburban home with his perfectionist wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), and teenage daughter Jane (Thora Birch). None of the three really love the other, they just go about their days tolerating each other just enough to live under one roof. One day Lester cracks, he quits his office job and starts saying whatever he wants. He also starts trying to get with his daughter's cheerleading friend, Angela (Mena Suvari), who is one of the most beautiful girls at school. These actions alienate Lester from his family and the world, but he doesn't seem to care, he's having the time of his life.
American Beauty tries to be something special with its message about materialism and the wrongs of society, but it never fully captures that idea, mostly it just dances around it from time to time. It also doesn't help that some of the actions Lester does are very hypocritical against the whole message of the film. In one instance, Lester complains about how Carolyn values the couch so much, even though in the same scene he talks about how much joy he got from buying his dream car.
One of my biggest pet peeves in films is when crucial plot points happen because of wild circumstances and coincidences. This film has a couple of those, and some of them are so big it starts to get unbelievable by the end. The whole ending of the film rests on one scene where one character says on the others, but their vision is disoriented so they don't get the full understanding of what is actually going on.
The handling of the characters is also rather poor. Lester's final outcome does come as a surprise, but once you think about it feels very wrong. He finally gets his resolution at the end but is not allowed to act on what he has learned. It's another detriment to the message because the film had been building up Lester's journey and completely throws it away in the end.
American Beauty is an actor's showcase, but only for one person; Kevin Spacey. Everyone else plays second fiddle and does lesser work than him. Spacey has the boring look and intelligence to perfectly play a man who knows exactly every wild thing he's doing. He symbolizes the man in a mid-life crisis, one that just wants to let go and find himself again.
Annette Bening loses herself as the uptight housewife, but for all the wrong reasons. She's over the top and slightly cartoonish. She tries to replicate Spacey and be a female symbol for America but ends up coming off too artificial.
Thora Birch and Wes Bentley do a middling job as Jane and Ricky, two teens who engage in an increasingly strange relationship. They both carry themselves flat and don't ever really react to anything around them.
If it was up to me, the 2000 Oscars ceremony should go down in infamy for giving the Best Picture award to the weakest of the nominees. The Academy can't help but reward the film with the most social commentary, even if it is slightly hypocritical. Except for Kevin Spacey's performance, there's not much else to pull you into this film or think kindly of it after it's done.