Some characters well drawn, others cartoonish

Rating: 7/10 (23 October 1999)

This film struck was a mixed bag. On the one hand, some of the characters (Lester in particular) were well written and well acted. Kevin Spacey is a delight to watch as he fully inhabits his character and makes us care about and understand him. On the other hand, several characters are overdone to a cartoonish degree: Annette Benning and Chris Cooper's characters in particular. I found the unrealistically dysfunctional military family particularly offensive. (Why, whenever there is only one set of characters in a film who are associated with the military, they are invariably psychotic? If other types of people were so regularly misrepresented there would be an outcry.)
So, I'd say that "American Beauty" was interesting, fairly well done, but still somewhat flawed. It did make me think while watching it and afterwards. It's worth seeing, but go to a matinÃ©e or wait for the video. It's not quite $6.50 worth.