A fresh new take on a hackneyed idea. Two thumbs up.

Rating: 10/10 (26 October 1999)

Annette Benning plays a success driven, neurotic wife to Kevin Spacey's suburbanite dissatisfied with his job, home and sex-life. Thora Birch (Now and Then) is their angst-ridden teenage daughter desperate to fit in. Wait. I know what you're thinking. Great, another movie about how much suburbia sucks. You're wrong. It is neither trite nor hackneyed. American Beauty is, in one word, beautiful. Sam Mendes' camera angles create a mystical atmosphere that allows the audience to see the pure beauty of life. Now you think it's hokey and sentimental. Once again, you're wrong. I hate sentimentality, but I adored this movie. American Beauty does not sugarcoat the less appealing aspects of life, but instead shows a depressing, and not uncommon, situation and offers an optimistic outlook.
Even the pessimist will see the beauty in American Beauty.