to put in yet another "I, too, think that this movie is excellent."

Rating: 10/10 (15 October 1999)

Hilarious at times, painfully sorrowful at others, "American Beauty" is, undoubtedly, one of the best movies in this decade. While it doesn't make you cry (I assumed the it didn't, 'cause 'making you cry' is *so* not the purpose of this movie), as, i.e., "Schindler's List," does, it wallops an emotional impact just as strong. I read one review, somewhere, that the reviewer doesn't like the movie because he can't 'root' for anyone in it. Well, surprise of all surprises, you *aren't* supposed to root for our sad bunch of characters. In fact, I can't even feel any sympathy for them, but I can empathize, as if their lives were my own. Lester Burnham, our narrator and protagonist, at the beginning of the movie, said that his daughter thinks of him as a chronic loser. And she's completely right; he *is*. So's Carolyn, his wife; so's the daughter, Jane; and so's the daughter's best friend, Angela. In fact, most of them are extremely selfish, and all of them, regardless, are a pathetic bunch of people. That's the exact point, for 'Life,' unfortunately, is never fair. We're f**ked from the very beginning and we know it. Intellectually we might have known for years, everytime that Life dealt you a harsh blow, but this movie made absolutely sure that you'll feel it thoroughly. That's why, I think I can safely say, most of us have that feeling of being hit extremely hard on the head, that feeling of being completely stunned and blew over. As much of a cliche as it is, I'm still going to say it, this movie forces us to think, to 'look closer' at our own lives. And, quite frankly, we all need to do so. As Socrates has said, a life unexamined is not worth living.