Perhaps this film has been misunderstood by other IMDb users

Rating: 10/10 (30 July 2001)

--This review is written on the basis that you don't mind references to certain particular events in American Beauty: if you haven't seen the film and don't want to know too much about the plot, I suggest you skip this review--
I loved American Beauty. The first time I watched it was over two consecutive evenings; after the first evening's viewing, I wasn't too sure what I thought of the film, the characters and the film's message to the viewer. When I finished the film the following evening, I knew I had found my favourite film.
The plot of American Beauty is very intricate - there isn't really one main character: Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) does take on some narration (voiceover) parts at certain points of the film, but the film doesn't solely revolve around him. Apart from him, there are plots also led by Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening), their daughter Jane (Thora Birch) with Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) and Ricky's Father, Col. Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper).
Lester Burnham, a self confessed `whore for the advertising industry' leaves his job working for a magazine because he realises he's had enough - this sequence of events is brought on because he meets Ricky Fitts, who introduces him to the `power of denial'. Also, Lester becomes infatuated with his daughter Jane's best friend, Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) - we are lead through his mind as he dreams and fantasises about this seventeen-year-old girl with whom he shouldn't really have any opportunities. Lester's life is changed by the principles he glimpses in Ricky Fitts' life and tries to start afresh. However, his family is still clinging on to the old Lester Burnham.
Lester Burnham's wife, Carolyn, runs her own Real Estate firm, competing against the `King' of Real Estate, Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher), who has his own philosophies that Carolyn soon becomes enveloped in.
Jane Burnham wants to fit in at school. In her adolescent ways she purports to hate her parents. She is best friends with Angela Hayes, but it soon becomes clear that Angela is all talk - as Ricky Fitts points out, they're not really friends, but instead Jane is someone that Angela can use. Jane becomes increasingly interested in the new boy next door who continually uses his camcorder to spy on her from across their drives. I found it very interesting that despite the fact that they were becoming increasingly involved, Ricky never overtly spoke to Jane about the fact that he was supplying drugs to her father.
The downfall of the Burnham family is progressively more imminent as the film proceeds with the three members of the family going their different ways - Lester towards a life of trying to seduce Angela, Carolyn and her affair with Buddy Kane, and Jane, encouraged by her parents' examples, relying more and more on Ricky Fitts for company.
I have read through the other reviews on this site (scroll down to read some if you haven't already), and I am impressed by the number of people who really hate American Beauty. Of course, they are perfectly entitled to their own opinions and I know I shouldn't try to change those even if I could. There are several aspects of the film that people dislike about the film: (1) Lester Burnham masturbating in the shower towards the beginning of the film, (2) the film's continual drug use, overuse and abuse, (3) Lester acting as a paedophile having dreams about a girl who is entirely out of his league in more ways than one, and (4) Lester becoming childish in taking a job that has the least responsibility possible. I can't help the fact that Lester masturbates both in the shower and in the middle of the film - the two events are just included in the Screenplay. The use of drugs in the film is merely an incident - I don't feel that Lester's life changes so dramatically because of his rekindling of an old habit, but instead because he meets this inspiring young man, Ricky. Perhaps Lester wouldn't have so fallen for Angela if Carolyn hadn't let him become so frustrated - because of this Lester takes up the `irresponsible' job in Mr Smiley's, so that he can get his own back on his wife and prove certain things to her about the change in his lifestyle.
It is difficult to say what genre American Beauty falls in to. It's not really horror, so we can rule that one off. Some people didn't like the film because they didn't think it was funny enough. Enough? I don't think it's supposed to be funny at all except for those with very warped senses of humour: it's not a comedy. Perhaps we can call American Beauty a modern tragedy in the true Classical sense of the term - it shows the downfall of a character (Lester Burnham), leading to his death at the end. It's a MODERN tragedy because it's hardly very orthodox in the way the tragedy is laid out - I recently watched a more `normal' tragedy, which I found excellent - it was the two French films Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des Sources: if you get a chance to watch these films, I would highly recommend them. I'd be very interested to know your own thoughts about American Beauty - just send me an IMDb personal message. Thanks for reading the review - sorry it was so long!