This film marks the end of any hope for the human condition.

Rating: 1/10 (25 October 1999)

I was deeply affected by this movie. I was paralyzed and felt an inability to feel anything at the end of the movie. Perhaps this was the producers intention. Perhaps they just despise 'suburban' life. In any case, their intention is not clear. The movie was so honest and sincere that it was frightening. This is not the world that I want to live in but the film makers beg the question, "Do we have any choice?" Brutally cruel and honest films like "Your Friends and Neighbors", "Swimming with Sharks", "Seven", "The Ice Storm", "Happiness", and "In the Company of Men" all need to be recategorized in the genre of "horror" in lieu of "Drama". American Beauty had obvious moments of comic relief and were it not for that, I could not have survived the movie. I don't remember ever laughing once during "The Ice Storm", or "In the Company of Men". If it is true that there is indeed a "human condition", then American Beauty has captured it very well. And guess what...According to the film makers of "American Beauty" we can do NOTHING about it. Moral nihilism doesn't seem to me to be a particularly comfortable way to live. Please convince me, if I happen to be wrong...