A rare film that you see once in a lifetime that has anything and everything you'd always wish for in a movie.

Rating: 10/10 (27 May 2001)

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** A rare film that you see once in a lifetime that has anything and everything you'd always wish for in a movie. It is about a 42 year-old man named Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey)who is going through a mid-life crisis.He has a wife named Carolyn(Annette Bening)who is cheating on him, a job where he's been working at for 14 years and is tired of it,a daughter named Jane (Thora Birch) whom he barely knows and dosen't pay attention to him ,Jane's friend Angela(Mena Suvari)is a girl who spends all her time talking about all the dozens of things she's done with guys, and attracts the eye of Lester, and Lester just got next door neighbors-Colonel Fitts(Chris Cooper)and Barbara Fitts (Allison Janney)who have a son named Ricky(Wes Bentley)who sells Lester pot and is obsessed with filming everything he sees,especially Lester's daughter Jane. All these people's lives interact at one time or another when Lester decides to change things in his life. He quits his job,he dosen't care what his wife and daughter think of him,he begins smoking pot,and he has an embarrasingly hard time hiding his feelings for Angela. The performances in this movie are perfect if not more. Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham is the perfect choice for the part.I've always been a huge fan of his but it almost doubled when I saw his portrayal of Lester. Annette Bening gives a stunning performance as Carolyn,Lester's wife, who is sick and tired of fighting with her husband and competing as a real estate agent with Buddy King(Peter Gallagher)the "King of Real Estate". The performances from the younger actors,Thora Birch,Wes Bentley,and Mena Suvari are just as good as the performances from Kevin and Annette. Thora Birch plays Jane,the teenager with a low self-esteem, mostly thanks to Angela ,who every day she has to deal with her bragging.But just when she thinks that nobody can understand her she meets Ricky. Judging from her performance you can tell that we'll be seeing her around more often. Wes Bentley as Ricky is to me a hard part to play. He films everything he sees and buys all of his equipment from selling drugs.He falls in love with Jane and eventually get to know each other.Bentley is someone you don't see every day.Ricky to me is a mature character and Bentley is one of those young actors who will spend his life working with legendary actors and matching up to their performance. Mena Suvari is a talented young actress who is remembered as playing Angela Hayes,the seductive teen and when she sees that Lester likes her,makes him a target. And as we can see in Lester's dreams that she really seduces him In conclusion, there are a lot of movies in my opinion that win Best Picture at the Oscars and are not worthy of it. It just got picked because of it's gross.For example, Gladiator won Best Picture this year and I loved the movie but hearing from reviews many think Traffic was more worthy of it. American Beauty is one of few films that certainly deserved the Oscar.