look closer  and get into this black comedic gem.

Rating: Null/10 (23 August 2002)

I'm forced to say that `American Beauty' is deserving (in my opinion) of its IMDB place. This movie was also rewarded, which is a good thing when undeserving movies continue to win each year generally (*cough* A Beautiful Mind *cough*).
Story wise it can be summed up easily. There's the Burnham family, who have just moved into a new home. Lester (Kevin Spacey) feels tired and worn down by his job and his power hungry house-retailing wife Carolyn (Annette Bening). Their daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), in the usual teenage way, hates her parents and hangs out with her friend Angela (Mena Suvari) and the mysterious boy-next-door, Ricky (Wes Bentley). But it all becomes too much for Lester when he begins to lust after Angela and decides to make some radical changes in his life, in a blackly amusing take on a midlife crisis.`
Acting? Well Spacey won an Oscar for his work and he can keep it. He's great here. He imbues Lester with, initially, a browbeaten weariness, that turns into a great line in sardonic behaviour. There's a great sense of fatalism about his character (apart from knowing his impending death), as if he knows his new life is a sham also. The fact that he can be incredibly witty but also show the human underneath it all (such as the bitterness directed at his wife), says a lot of Spacey's talents. Quite how he sunk so low afterwards puzzles me. Bening, who was Oscar nominated, is similarly great as a woman losing control. Her control freak nature, belied by a streak of insecurity, is all too believable. In fact all the cast acquit themselves here, all with a darkness inside them (in the case of Ricky and his family), or deep-rooted lack of identity (the Burnhams). Kudos to all.
Story? Well Alan `Six Feet Under' Ball does a fine little job here too. The script has emotional drama and darkness (quite bleak at times too), but never loses its sharp wit. It's a balance that is very difficult to achieve but, bless Ball, he does it. The real comedy comes from Lester's newly found laidback observational take on life, where nothing seems to phase him. His reactions, bounced off other characters, can be priceless (his nonchalant snarky remarks to his wife's rival are hilarious). The comedy is never at the expense of the story nor vice-versa. It's too black for that. The story is tinged with a hint of sadness but with a small amount of hope too, with a lot of it summed up in the famous `dancing bag in wind' piece in the movie.
Directing? Well Sam Mendes got an Oscar for his work here (against some excellent competition in the last good year for movies, 1999). Well done to him too. There's an excellent soundtrack for starters (Oscar-nominated). There's a great use of moody lighting and nice framing of shots, et cetera. The symbolic use of rose (American beauty is a type of rose) is actually handled in a manner that does not irritate, despite being somewhat heavy handed on occasion. There are some particularly lovely touches  such as the sharp cuts employed when Lester is engaging in a fantasy, that really help us delve into the character's psyche. Overall Mendes lends a very polished hand to an already polished script, and coaxes great performances from his cast.
Is `American Beauty' perfect? No, but it is very good. It's most certainly worthy of a viewing to show how you how it is possible to do a drama laced with black comedy and do it very well. And how Hollywood can surprise us and produce an excellent script. More movies like this would be very very welcome. 8.7/10.