Believe the hype (*SPOILERS*)

Rating: 9/10 (4 November 1999)

As I sort through the enormous volume of user comments, I am surprised by how many people disliked this film. While not perfect, in my opinion, it was at least one of the best films of this decade. Kevin Spacey gives the best performance in a continually improving career; this guy has been great since he played Mel Profitt on Wiseguy and just keeps getting better. I think people should stop listening to the reviews, their friends, the user comments on this board, and any other sources of pre-rendered opinions of this movie. Some people have tried to compare this with The Ice Storm, which tried to be everything that this movie was and failed miserably. I feel that American Beauty succeeded where TIS did not in that both groups, the adults and teenagers, were well-written and acted. In TIS, the adult performances were just not very good, although I think much of that had to do with the writing. One of the more perplexing aspects of the criticism has to do with the "gratuitous" female nudity. I am one of the most vocal critics of "An Officer and A Gentleman" mini-porno sex scenes that have nothing to add to character development and have everything to do with female exploitation. However, the two scenes of nudity in this film were EXTREMELY important to the film. The first, Thora Birch exposing herself to Wes Bentley, relates to her lack of self-esteem about her breasts and body. Initially, she is searching Breast Augmentation websites and views herself as unnattractive. It is exactly that quality that Mena Suvari's character feeds off - someone with lower self-esteem than her who can make her feel good about herself. Bentley's interest in her makes her realize that she is genuinely beautiful, and her willingness to share her body with him is a great step in her development as a character. Suvari's scene is even more effective. As Lester pulls her shirt open, revealing her beautiful breasts and increasing his already powerful sexual desire for her, she reveals that she is in fact, a virgin. I have never seen a better representation of a penis-deflating moment in my life. Within the same camera shot, a character changes from a purely sexual creature to a childish innocent. I would gamble that most men watching this movie had the same reaction that Lester had.
Also, I can't understand why so many people disliked Bening's performance. The complexity of her character is amazing to me. She comes off as a cold, inhuman ice queen, but the displays of vulnerability are very well-done. Remember, Bening doesn't undergo the same epiphany that Spacey does in the movie. She has an affair, reawakens her sexuality, and takes more chances with her life. But, the couch scene should make it perfectly clear that she is not completely transformed. Her insecurities are totally obvious as she prepares to confront her husband just prior to his shooting; she still can't open up the way Lester wants her to, the way that she used to in the early years of their marriage.
Finally, the Chris Cooper character may be similar to many of the other macho, militaristic characters we've seen before, but both the actor and the writing give him so much more depth than the cliche-ridden caricature that many have criticized him as being. This is a man who has destroyed the mental health of his wife and very nearly his son because he is latently a homosexual. you can see how tortured he is by his own self-loathing from the very beginning; he is not a hateful antagonist, but another pathetic example of how the roles society expect us to play can torture us with their limitations.
American Beauty is an incredible example of how compartmentalized our society has become; very much the epitome of the folk song 'Little Boxes". We isolate ourselves in our cookie cutter homes, going to ubiquitous fast food chains and mini-malls; sitting in our car for the two hours of our commute, we blind ourselves to the existence of beauty in the person sitting in the car next to us. We sit in cubicles all day long, sacrificing social interaction for the painful isolation of a computer screen that slowly but surely sucks the life out of us. We come home to a family that no longer has any desire to interact with each other - they're too wrapped up in their own trips. Eventually, the years pass us by, leaving us to reflect on the people we once were so long ago. Lester shows us that that person never truly dies but just goes on an extended vacation, waiting to be reawakened. In his death, Lester is resurrected; the final moment of realization reflected in Kevin Spacey's face as the gun slowly moves to the back of his head is one of the most beautiful ever put on film.
This film deserves every kudo it is being given and will ultimately surpass 99% of the other suburban nightmare films that have come before it.