a more balanced look **mild, nonspecific spoiler**

Rating: 10/10 (13 October 1999)

American Beauty reminded me most of Happiness and Your Friends and Neighbors, two other examinations of modern-day suburban evilness great and small. The biggest difference here, though, is that those two movies were completely about the ugliness and pettiness and excluded any kind of joy or sense of redemption. In those movies, every moment of hope revealed was quickly crushed. On the other hand, the glimpses of beauty in American Beauty weren't just limited to ironic beauty! These moments formed the centerpieces of the film (even though, like the others, the cruelties took up most of the screentime). This balance is what made the film work. Even the humor wasn't always relegated to a disgusted I-can't-believe-I'm-seeing-this snort.
I was also impressed by the way it kept this examination of beauty at arm's length, not letting it become overwhelmingly trite like most movies do. Note, for example, Spacey's character's narrative at the end. While the words seem emotionally over-the-top, his deadpan voice lets you know beforehand that his speech will end with something like "my whole stupid life". Another nice touch was the creepy fixation that Ricky Fitts had with beauty, culminating with the grin that crept across his face while contemplating Spacey's peaceful expression at the end. I don't think, as others have said, that Ricky Fitts was necessarily treated as a hero. We were encouraged to laugh at (and be disgusted by) his vivisections of beauty; do you really think we were meant to agree with them?
Besides one nagging hole in the plot (Why would Ricky do anything at all like that in what he knew was full view of his father?), my biggest complaint was the ending. Ya know, there doesn't have to be one of those whodunit--ha! fooled you, you were wrong--endings at the end of every drama. Did every drama filmmaker grow up watching To Tell the Truth or something? That last switcheroo seemed tacked on and had no impact on the true themes of the movie.
Not a groundbreaking movie at all, but entertaining and very accomplished for a first-time director.