What you see is how you look

Rating: Null/10 (28 June 2001)

The tagline of American Beauty is "look closer."
This movie has many levels, and some of the negative reviews are from people who couldn't see past the superficial level. It seems to me that they didn't, or couldn't... "look closer."
The film is, in part, a parody of Hollywood style films, but it's not blatantly obvious at first. Look deeper, and you can see the parody. Look even deeper, and you can see much more. What I took as the "real" message in this movie is beyond what can be put into words, but the film does a pretty good job of pointing at the indefinable.
I think that people who are interested in Zen will be particularly likely to enjoy this film.