Beautiful, American, and Overpraised

Rating: 7/10 (2 December 1999)

There's something about AMERICAN BEAUTY that just doesn't do it for me. The cinematography is hands-down glorious and the acting is superb. Yet, there's too much dysfunction going on, it's a little cartoon-y. Or maybe that's what was intended.
After all dysfunctional families in film is certainly nothing new. Maybe that was what was so tiring to watch.
The film does have some great scenes of vengeance with Kevin Spacey screwing over his boss and coming out as some kind of hero or something. But the resolution is so pat and preconcieved.
Poor Chris Cooper comes out as a cartoon and Allison Janney's talent is wrongfully wasted as his wife. The confrontation between Cooper and Spacey was also a little eyebrow-raising. But I loved Wes Bentley in this movie, I hope this helps his career in the future (he was great competition with Spacey).
AMERICAN BEAUTY I think is too clean, too well cut for it's material. From the beginning you know the fate of Spacey's character, so there wasn't really anything to surprise you with (unless the identity of the murderer counts), so AMERICAN BEAUTY was sorta, dare I say, predictable. I guess I could say worst things. After all, it was very entertaining, very lovely, and very beautifully photographed. If only it was inspiring or gave us something new to watch, with such a grand production.