Sigh...

Rating: 6/10 (2 December 2000)

I understand the popularity of this movie, given that it has an intriguing story, interesting direction, and a unique look and feel. What I do not understand is how anyone could even begin to compare it to Godfather (1 and 2), Shawshank, Schindler, Kane, etc, which is the company this film keeps on the Top 250.
It appears that American Beauty is the current off-kilter movie du jour to become the darling of the pseudo-aficionado community...a latter day L.A. Confidential. I await the fading of this movie from the short attention span of today's audiences and the normalization of it's position on the Top 250 (where it belongs, just not so loftily). American Beauty is a solid, interesting movie, but it is not, in my opinion, an enduring classic.
(Short anecdote: I have acquaintances who are not regular movie goers, seeing 1 or 2 films a year, and who are also (purposely) ignorant of current entertainment goings-on. The buzz surrounding American Beauty compelled them to head down to the local video store for a copy. Upon viewing the film, they were flabbergasted at it's Oscar performance. They expressed that they were particularly surprised that a movie containing man-confection sexual congress could win an Oscar. Unfortunately, they had accidentally rented American Pie.)