Brilliant dark comedy

Rating: 10/10 (24 May 2000)

"American Beauty" was without question the best movie of 1999. Five well-deserved Oscars (including Best Picture) went to this brilliant dark comedy about a dysfunctional family and the lives that they live. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a man who is ignored by his wife, and hated by his daughter. Then he starts to have a mid-life crisis when he starts to lust after his teenage daughter's best friend. What Spacey goes through during the course of this movie is something else. Spacey has given lots of great movie performances in movies such as "A Time to Kill", "L.A. Confidential", and "The Usual Suspects" for which we won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He very deservedly won his second Oscar (this time for Best Actor) for his performance here, the best of his career. Annette Bening also gives a great Oscar-nominated performance as Carolyn, Lester's real estate agent wife. In addition to Spacey and Bening, there are terrific performances turned in by Thora Birch as their daughter, Jane; Mena Suvari as Jane's best friend Angela; Wes Bentley as Ricky, the new boy-next-door to the Burnhams; Chris Cooper and Allison Janney as Bentley's parents; and Peter Gallagher as Bening's real estate rival who starts to have a little something with Bening. Even former "Quantum Leap" actor Scott Bakula has a great bit part in the movie. Director Sam Mendes and writer Alan Ball made their feature debuts with this film and what a spectacular job they have done their first time out. I can't wait to see what feature films they're going to do next. Beautiful cinematography, terrific production design, and a memorable film score are also major factors in the film. "American Beauty" is a movie that is sometimes very funny, and sometimes very sad. It ranks up there with "Titanic", "Forrest Gump", "Schindler's List", "Driving Miss Daisy", "Terms of Endearment", and "Kramer Vs. Kramer" as my favorite movies that went on to win the big Oscar for Best Picture. An outstanding movie.
**** (out of four)