Beautiful

Rating: 9/10 (1 September 2005)

"My name is Lester Burnham. I'm 42 years old. In less than a year I will be dead. Of course I don't know this, and in a way I am already."
Quaint American suburbia. Quaint American life. Lester. The husband and father (Kevin Spacey - Oscar winning, if that matters to you), an advertising worker. A man who's had enough of the smart suit lifestyle, and the orderly existence he must lead. Of whom, after a chance sighting of a gorgeous high-school cheerleader decides to abruptly alter his life, to make himself happy. Carolyn. The wife and mother (Annette Benning), a real estate agent, feeling the squeeze from the competition who must find her way into the exec's business. A woman who is frustrated with her loveless marriage, who resorts to adultery. And of whom is wanting to change as well, not via regression as her husband has done, but with re-order to her waining, uncontrolled existence. Jane. The teenage daughter (Thora Birch), high-school student, best friends with the cheerleading hottie of which her father has a crush. A mixed-up badly parented so-and-so who has the new boy next door hitting on her, and her best friend constantly impressing her 'apparent' sexual experiences on her. As you may or may not expect.
So there's the family. The film follows: Lester's regression Carolyn's disjointedness with her family Jane' despising attitude towards them both The new neighbours, of whom: The father is an ex-marine who is unhappy about his son's antics with Jane's father... The son, a troubled, ex-loon who is trying to find his way through society by focussing on the beauty, the tenderness, the good stuff in a world we might find to be anything but. The mother - A wreck? That's all that can be said about her.
The film is quirky, a bit predictable, but always entertaining, with some memorable pieces and a lovely look to it, Sam Mendes really did the job proud.
Of course, the ending can be seen a mile away. The first line of the film prepares you straight out - Noted above ^ in speech marks.
But for what the intertwining, oddly attractive lives of these people tells us, it is fine to say that this film is a contemporary, enjoyable - and sometimes funny - delight of cinematic wonder.