a real HORROR film

Rating: 3/10 (14 January 2001)

A true horror film. Why? Because these monsters are real! This film is a reflection of our society. The reflection is real and greatly magnified. Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the most screwed up of all. `American Beauty' answers such a question quite well and I don' t find it very entertaining. Movies that I like make me think, laugh, cry, or be pissed off, but this one drains the dopamine out of my nerve centers. Its another depressing movie that Hollywood uses to promote cynicism of the American dream and to stereotype suburbia. The movie portrays middle class as mean spirited, oppressed, unfaithful, fake, hypocritical, gun toten homophobes who would pluck the gold from your molars before the ink dried on your death certificate. Its not by accident that liberal Hollywood depicts
in this film a gay couple as the happiest, healthiest, friendliest and most wholesome of the entire neighborhood while attempting to portray a Norman Rockwell lifestyle as a bogus facsimile of an old American fantasy.

However,this movie does pack a powerful punch. It has great acting by Kevin Spacey, Annette Benning, Thora Birch, and Wes Bentley. It has a plot that is very artistically twisted (just like the characters). It has an ending that surprises the viewer. It also has a smorgasbord of society's issues that many can dip onto their plate and relate to. Lets see a sample of the main entrees: We have unfaithful spouses, mid life crisis, large portions of depression, freshly stewed low self esteem, and hot off the grill anger. It also has a very delectable side bar of tasty morsels: It serves up closet homosexuals and out of the closet homosexuals, drug addiction, murder, money and power struggles, hard headed, violent and bigoted military figures, teenage identity crisis. And for dessert: Lets try some 17 year old breast, a woman's feet flying up in the air, sexual fantasies, a man jerking off in the shower and a mild twist of humor for flavoring. Uhmmmm ! Sounds good? Not to this movie watcher. Belch!! Where are the `Tums'? I didn't escape in this movie; I was sucked into this movie like a farmer pulled into a corn picker and maimed from the inside out. I see so much pain in this movie and we all grow numb of it. I found the world news more refreshing. What a downer.
I gave this movie an anemic 6. It is greatly overrated and I hope not a classic. If it becomes a classic I fear what we have become as a whole. Its another flick that I am amazed at the amount of high scores. Maybe that proves the old saying that misery loves company. I called this a horror movie, but a disaster movie may be a more realistic classification. It should be called `Erosion'. Erosion of society, the American dream, and family values and gives power to pursuing ones desires first while putting everyone close to you in the shadows. I once watched a movie that reflected a part of America called, `The Grapes of Wrath'. It made me very grateful of where we have come and this one `American Beauty' makes fearful of where we are going.