An American Masterpiece.

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2008)

'American Beauty' is an American masterpiece, albeit a flawed one. Director Sam Mendes has crafted a dark, brooding, and completely enveloping tale of a simple American family. Well, simple enough on the outside, anything but behind closed doors. Despite being alarmingly powerful and packing a harsh emotional punch, 'American Beauty' is sinfully funny with some of the best performances you're likely to ever see in cinema's rich history.
Spirituality remains an almost taboo subject for film today, and never has it been explored quite the way we see it in 'American Beauty'. At first glance, this can be mistaken as another skin-deep story of another dysfunctional family living in suburban America. But once you allow yourself to see all the layers that make up this heartbreaking film, this is anything but simplistic and unoriginal. Explosive drama and biting satire, 'American Beauty' shows us how beautiful life can be in the most horrible and shocking ways. But it works, and it works on nearly every level.
'American Beauty' wouldn't be half the film it is without the glorious acting talents of Kevin Spacey and Annette Benning. The seemingly happy couple whose marriage is actually falling apart at the seams. The performances are brilliant, Spacey in particular whose mid-life crisis opens him up to life-changing experiences. Smoking pot, buying a sports car, quitting your job. Spacey, one of Hollywood's best actors, pulls it off like none other and will leave you in stitches the way he underperforms his lines with biting accuracy.
Had it not been for Mendes, 'American Beauty' could have easily doused itself waist-deep in sticky melodrama. And even when it comes tantalizing close to crossing that line, Mendes is in the driver's seat to get us all back on course. It's a brilliant and edgy project which will undoubtedly challenge its viewers, but will definitely give them something to think about for a long time. There's a lot of beauty in this world, and 'American Beauty' paints a tragic portrait of a family on the verge of shattering.
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