A Classic

Rating: 9/10 (7 May 2006)

This is a great American comedy about dysfunction and how the lives of middle-class American families have gone completely down the tubes, and it's a classic. It was a great success and many people saw great things in it. It bridged the generation gap. It touched people in the same way that "The Graduate" did, but it's a more sustained piece of work than "The Graduate". People who saw this film thought they were seeing a masterpiece and it went on to win the Oscar as the year's Best Picture.
The film's big issue is repressed homosexuality and it's on this crux that 'the drama' is played out and people who think the film is a masterpiece channel all their energies into this crucial plot point. They overlook the fact that it's a comedy and a very funny one at that; (ok, so it ends with a murder and blood on the wall but comedies sometimes do). The writer, Alan Ball, constructs his characters, not from people we might actually know, but from the characters we see on TV shows. (The film works because it's like the best bits gathered from the best TV shows ever). After winning an Oscar for "American Beauty" Alan Ball went on to develop one of the best of all TV shows in "Six Feet Under", though the television show that most closely resembles "American Beauty" isn't "Six Feet Under" but "Desperate Housewives".
It's director, Sam Mendes, had never made a movie before and he brings an innocent enthusiasm to the proceedings, (and being British he isn't burdened by any preconceptions; he looks at things through fresh, untrained eyes). As the anti-hero embracing the counter-culture, Kevin Spacey is close to iconic and he won an Oscar for his performance. It isn't that good a performance, rather it's expert line-reading but it's enough. Annette Bening is terrific as his wife. The part isn't well written but Bening transmogrifies it into some kind of comic nirvana. This is really subtle comic playing; the creation of a character out of nothing. And the supporting performances are just about perfect; the always reliable Chris Cooper and Allison Janney as the next door neighbours and newcomers Wes Bentley, (the gorgeous, drug-dealing son from next door), Thora Birch, (the daughter), and best of all, Mena Suvari as the nymphet best friend whom Spacey lusts after. She's a fireball, sex-kitten and when she's on screen she burns it up.
When I first saw this film I thought it was a very, very clever cartoon. Time has been kind to it. It's still like a cartoon but then Leonardo Da Vinci did cartoons and this one cuts to the core.