What can I say...

Rating: 10/10 (16 September 2013)

...about American Beauty, that hasn't already been said? This is hands-down one of the best films ever made. EVER. For starters, the tone & dialog are very sharp and stunning: it goes from being sardonic with acerbic wit and dialog, to just plain funny. It's an indictment on a certain segment of American culture, at least as seen through the eyes of Alan Ball, and it's immensely entertaining in the process.
This film broke new ground in cinema, which is not an easy thing to achieve. The characters are each superbly written and well-studied: there's not one character that doesn't belong or serve a purpose in the story. Then, it hits on so many different levels. What's more is, as the audience, we get to see each character in their own private world, so we can feel sympathy for each one of them, that they are each going through their own struggles in their life, even if we don't agree with or loathe them otherwise.
Then there's the ending...and WHOA, what an ending: Alan Ball manages something incredible and triumphant, something that is rarely achieved, in that he all of a sudden presents an entirely new, if dark scenario (when Lester is killed), asks a question (who shot him?), and answers it all in the span of about two minutes, all on the heels of of very entertaining and grippingly dramatic journey through the characters' lives that is at once funny, serious, devastating and poignant, and leaves you thinking "what the heck did I just see?". I've never seen any other film that accomplishes this. It's simply a stunning piece of work from every angle, one that reveals more and more layers with each repeated viewing. This movie broke the mold for what a film can be. A masterpiece among masterpieces.