A real experience

Rating: Null/10 (8 March 2000)

This movie fully deserves the classic status it has achieved. It is the kind of experience that reaffirms your belief in the art of movie-making. From the first scene director Sam Mendes demonstrates that he has total control over all the characters and all the elements of the story.
The story centres around nobody Lester Burnham (the always magnificent Kevin Spacey) who is ridiculously bored with his life. Expendable in his job and ignored by his family he proceeds to have a midlife crisis which affects all around him. He develops a crush on his daughter's friend (Mena Suvari, playing the nymphet role to perfection) and starts changing his life to follow his dreams.
The film manages the almost impossible task of displaying true humour and then ending with an emotional note but you can't see the join. "American Beauty" is a finely crafted piece of cinema and it fully deserves to sweep the board at the Oscars.