The Dissolution of the American Dream

Rating: 8/10 (12 October 1999)

American Beauty is a very good movie, possibly a great one pending how it views over time. There's no one particular thing about it that's necessarily original, but conglomerated, the filmmakers begin picking apart what our concepts of love, acceptance and happiness are. There is no hero here; all of these people do bad things at some point during the movie. But there's someone here that everyone can identify with. I was bothered by an extra twist that's thrown in near the end. It was unnecessary and made one character a little too implausible. Some scenes are hilarious, some almost painful to watch. The scene where Spacey works a fast food drive thru window should be reason enough to nominate him for the Oscar. Annette Bening should be a favorite to win best actress. I can't give this one film of the year without seeing Fight Club or The Green Mile first, though.