American Beauty

Rating: 10/10 (20 April 2010)

In the film American beauty the cast was picked perfectly to play their roles. The main characters were Lester played by Kevin spacey who was the husband on a life changing course. The wife Carolyn was played by Annette Bening and their daughter Jane played by Thora Birch. In the movie Lester finds himself in an inappropriate attraction with Jane's friend Angela played by Mara Suvari. As Lester begins to change his life and live it for him, new neighbors move in next door. The son Ricky played by Wes Bentley is selling marijuana and Lester befriends him. As the movie progresses Ricky begins to date Jane and Ricky's father Frank played by Chris Cooper begins to think that his son is having a gay relationship with Lester instead due to a video found in his room. The ending top the movie will leave you on the edge of your seat. In the movie the director used a motif of roses. It was a great touch to enhance his fantasy world and it really makes you wonder why a rose? It took me to the end to realize it was to help the audience understand the beauty around him and let you know that life is too beautiful to waste.
I felt that the theme of the movie is things are not always what they seem. People conger up perceived notions about others in their mind and they get all worked about nothing. Throughout the movie Ricky films everything that he sees and keep sit all on tape. In one scene Ricky is filming Lester working out naked in his garage and his father Frank finds it and that is where the gay relationship was created. Like I said Ricky films everything. This happens throughout the movie Crash. People are giving into stereotypes and letting it get the best of them. The best example I can give you is in Crash when the store clerk needed his lock fixed and the locksmith looks like a thug. The store owner gets robbed that night and automatically blames it on the locksmith. I have learned that people assume if you look a certain way you are going to act a certain way and if you're a man filming another man working out then you're automatically gay. Like I said things are not always what they seem, only if everything was black and white and no in-between existed.