Post-Modern America at its finest in dysfunctionality

Rating: 10/10 (19 September 1999)

From trailers alone, "American Beauty" showed the most interest in my mind this year. It is a deep, dark, and sometimes depressing movie about that which makes up our post-modern America. We have Lester Burnham, who Kevin Spacey brilliantly brings to life, starring as a 42-year old man in the midst of a mid-life crisis. He does not pull any punches on the decline of his life. He is stuck in a dead-end job for a company looking to lay people off. He has a wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), who is a typical working mom: She truly believes she is Supermom, despite that she treats young Jane (Thora Birch) like dirt. At first, you may think that this family's values are the core of the film, but this is an idea shortly put away.

On one side of the Burnham house is a homosexual couple who do not flaunt their sexuality but are not ashamed of it. On the other side is an empty house, finally sold at the beginning of the film by Carolyn's long-time real estate rival, Buddy King. Buddy is the very successful business person that Carolyn only wishes she could be.
The new family that moves in is the Fitts. They are a retired member of the US Marine Corp, his stay-at-home wife, and their son, Rickey. Colonel Fitts is a 'stereotypical' military man, full of homophobia. Barbara Fitts is mentally depressed. Rickey has an illustrious aura about him from the very beginning of the film, full of voyeurism and mind-expanding drugs.

At this point, one is compelled to think we have all the makings of our society, but alas, we have yet to meet Jane's friend, Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari). She is the super-skinny, sex-minded wanna-be model. She tries to flaunt her body so that she can have any boy or man, whenever she wants it.
At any rate, Kevin Spacey is flawless in his sarcastic delivery. In the movie trailer, we see the Burnhams eating dinner and we get to hear Kevin say "I just quit my job and blackmailed my boss for almost $60,000! Pass the asparagus."
As serious as the movie gets, it also left me in stitches. In the midst of fights, in the midst of everybody's personal dysfunctional flaw, there is black comedy that is a notch below disturbing, and in this, it should invoke laughter. This movie was well worth the $9.50 per ticket to see it in limited release, and I highly recommend it.