If Alfred Hitchcock Were Alive Today...

Rating: 9/10 (25 March 2000)

...odds are, he would have either made something like "American Beauty", or been one of the numerous people who have seen it over and over again.
American Beauty is the wonderfully uplifting tail of the destruction of a man's life, and the deterioration of his family - and no, I'm actually not being sarcastic. One day, when mild mannered and hapless Lester Burnham realizes the travesty his life is, you can hear something snap in his head at dinner with his family. He breaks down his daily routine, and asks himself why he hasn't killed himself yet.
And the answer is, he decides he has nothing too lose, and therefore, has too much to live for. He can do whatever he wants, without a care in the world, risk free, because no one he hurts really cares about him. His actions effect others, and he honestly has no real reason to care. His flaky wife finally admits to herself she left him emotionally, and his daughter is shaken up when Lester develops a huge crush on her flirty cheerleader best friend. The Hitchcockian elements of the film are Lester's reasons, his actions, and their effects. In such a simple setting with simple characters, the wierdest things happen to show the beautiful simplicity that is life, and only Lester and his neighbors abuse Son realize this, nobody else ever catching on.
While it may seem that the film is fraught with depression and unbearable tension, the truth is that it is, but that is one of its many beauties. Going insane proves to be the only way to stay sane in the world, and Lester enjoys every minute of it, as does the viewer. We watch as he happily destroys the false holds everyone around him holds dear too, and can only hold onto Lester's wild ride. A dark, comic, beautiful ride that doesn't make us, but helps us realize the beauty beneath God's world.

P.S. Pay attention to the date this was written - one day before the Oscars. I'll be very surprised if this film does not receive best picture, but no matter. Gaining or losing a piece of gold will not tarnish this film's beauty.