American Beauty

Rating: 10/10 (14 November 2006)

If you want to have believable and with all their faults likable characters Alan Ball is the man to go to. Anyone who has seen this debut of screenwriter Ball should not be surprised about how great "Six Feet Under" turned out to be. With this wonderful script, first-time director Sam Mendes brings us a movie that is extremely funny at times, while in the end it might bring some tears to your eyes. Kevin Spacey plays this midlife-crises troubled man so ironically but honestly at the same time, it's just great. But also the rest of the cast is awesome: Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper, they all deliver outstanding performances. "I don't think that there's anything worse than being ordinary", Mena Suvari's character says once. If there is one thing that "American Beauty" is not, it's normal.