Very good

Rating: 8/10 (28 June 2006)

American Beauty is a readily-molded drama up for Academy praise. It occasionally feels forced; it has a lot of clichés, and it is over-hyped. However, it is still a very good film that brings up important issues and it leaves me touched and emotional every time I watch it.
The musical score was excellent, because it did not fit the scenes to which it was scored. This gave rise to a curious effect in which the background music grew so loud and strange you had to stop to listen to it. The roses are recurrent throughout the film and used in symbolic ways. For instance, when seen in connection with Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari), the roses are free flowing petals to represent free passion in love. In contrast, when they are seen in connection to Carolyn (Annette Benning) they are tightly bound up in bouquetsrestricted and up for show, representing a love that is more about putting up a show than about expressing love. What makes American Beauty a modern masterpiece is not its good use of symbolic flowers, but its elements of humour. They are very subtle and well-handled but enough to label this film a Drama Comedy of some sorts. It would have been far too heavy without comedic relief.
I am still torn about the plastic-bag-blowing-in-the-wind-scene that that Ricky kid caught on tape and I suspect I will always be. Yes, it is pretty neat bringing up "there's so much beauty in the world", but ultimately it is too sappy for me to take. American Beauty's inherent flaw is its sappiness. It is too cliché. Yes, it deliberately points to clichés in everyday American life but it is not devoid of its own clichés in doing so. It's almost hypocritical. I give this film a strong 8 for the emotional impact is causes and the overall good execution of ideas.