One of the greatest masterpeices ever made!!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (11 July 2000)

Where did all these bad reviews coming from? I'm guessing most of these people giving bad reviews to this movie really did miss the point of the movie. This film really shows how life really is. It shows that life is no happy story where everyone is happy. Actually American Beauty shows that life can be depressing, sad, drug - filled, and tragic.

This movie centers off the Burnham's, a disfunctional family. Lester (a excellent well deserved Oscar performance by Kevin Spacey) is in mid-life crisis. He is depressed because he might be losing his job, that his wife (Annette Bening) cares more about her job, that his daughter avoids him. Soon he falls for his daughter's best friend and begins to change his life around to make this girl like him. And this obssession soon changes his life and others around him.
This film was very well written and the direction was so well done. Acting performances by Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening were so outstanding in their roles. They were perfect for them and the Oscar wins and nominations were very well deserved. For anyone that hates the film I have to say you missed the point of this film badly. If you hate it because of the drug use, Lester falling for his daughter's friend then you must be looking at life the other way. What happenes in this film actually happenes in life. Life is no fairy tale and this film proves that well.