"Never underestimate the power of denial."

Rating: 10/10 (5 February 2012)

I've read a number of the pro and con reviews of this movie and in a strange way, both sides of the argument seem to have it right. Perhaps that's the power of the film, it's ability to present opposing viewpoints as if they were two sides of the same coin. Personally, I thought the film was brilliant in it's portrayal of how vapid society has become in it's examination of wealth, success and having to get it right here and right now. That's where the Annette Bening character comes in, as the self-actualizing real estate salesperson measuring success by projecting the appearance of success. Caricaturing that position is her husband's (Kevin Spacey) complete disconnect from reality by blackmailing his employer, quitting his job, and looking for the least possible amount of responsibility in a burger flipping career. Along the way, Lester Burnham entertains grand delusions of buffing up and following through on his mid-life fantasies while those around him, daughter Janie (Thora Birch), Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) and creepy neighbor Ricky Fits (Wes Bentley) all dance to the different drummer in their own lives.
Notwithstanding which side of the fence you come down on, I think that by the time you reach Lester Burnham's age, you've managed to entertain some of the kind of fantasies he has. The responsible ones among us don't carry it any further; the ones who do wind up on the front page of their local newspaper or have their name show up in the police blotter. It's probably irrelevant in the grand scheme of things that Lester himself wound wind up in the obituaries. What the picture does, most of the time uncomfortably, is force the viewer to examine their own life and declare a response to the events on screen. In that regard, I'm drawn to a line by the poet Keats, 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'. 'American Truth' doesn't seem to have the same ring to it as 'American Beauty', but the sentiment expressed by the film is about the same.