Truly a classic...

Rating: 10/10 (2 October 1999)

I had very high expectations for this movie, and while they were certainly met (or even exceeded) I was still surprised by how depressed American Beauty made me feel. There were many humorous moments in the movie, but I only laughed once or twice, and that was only a snicker. Not to say that these moments weren't funny, because they were, but not in a laugh out loud kind of way. This movie also was not a black comedy, because you have to feel for all the characters, regardless of their (many) flaws. To classify this movie would be impossible, to compare it to another movie, equally impossible. I didn't laugh, I didn't cry, I wasn't entertained in the conventional sense of the word, but I felt very strongly for all of the characters. I wanted to get out of my seat and jump into the movie and help these people out.