Oddly moving

Rating: 10/10 (18 February 2000)

Seems people are really polarized on this one. Depends on your perspective of life, I guess, and your tolerance for some rough subject matter -- drug use, drug dealing, older man seduces teenager (or vice versa!), latent homosexuality, a murder, etc. Also on your understanding of Zen ... Wes Bentley's character's preoccupation with something blowing in the breeze, Kevin Spacey's character's coming to beatific acceptance of life.
One of my co-workers hated it because of the subject matter. But you have to go beyond that to get to the heart of "American Beauty." I don't approve of drug dealing, and all that, but here those things are used to make very strong and sometimes conflicting points.
This is a movie that says a lot and says it eloquently. I think it's the best film I've seen in quite a while.
I won't go on, but let me say this. For those who didn't like the movie, there's something in one of Spacey's last lines that addresses this -- a very ironic twist, as if he's anticipating that some of the audience won't understand the movie's point.
I remember that line more than any other in the movie ... if you didn't like the film, it probably slipped right past you and you won't remember it. Go back and see if you can catch this very poignant bit of observation.