Stylish, sexy, and special

Rating: 9/10 (17 September 1999)

A couple days ago, I saw an advance screening of the movie "American Beauty". It is an amazing film.
The ending of the movie is intentionally given away in the opening minute, which really threw me at first. But it actually makes the rest of the film more powerful by continuing to keep you on your toes as you await a certain character's fate. Basically, American Beauty is the story of a family that is pretty darn disfunctional, but is really not all that much different than many families in suburban America.
The movie features a remarkable performance by Kevin Spacey. He is gonna get an Oscar nomination for it, I have no doubt. The physical and emotional changes his character undergoes are just stunning. I was also very impressed with youngster Thora Birch, who shows that a slight smile and no makeup can be beautiful and sexy in a way that the perfect blonde bombshells from Hollywood could never imagine. Annette Benning has a sex scene that is among the funniest I have ever seen.
The direction is fantastic. Very stylized and artistic. In one particular scene were Kevin Spacey is dreaming, check out the way he blinks (you will know what I mean when you see it), it is a detail that could easily have been glossed over, but shows me how careful the people behind this film were about crafting it.
It is not a movie for everyone. If you are only into escapism you probably won't enjoy it because it is not a simple film and it not exactly uplifting all the time. I does deserve its R rating as it has a little bit of nudity and plenty of sexual talk/swearing, but all of that stuff is far from gratuitous and really works well within the plot. There is also a spot of violence and blood, but again, it is absolutly neccessary to the story. Mostly, the movie is funny and insightful.
Bottom line, I'd be willing to bet that you will not be sorry you saw this one. It is the rare film these days that is actually worth the price of admission.