The car I always wanted and now I have it. However, in the humble opinion of the reviewer, the movie will still have the same effect on you, regardless of whether or not you know all the story details. There are plenty of reasons to like Sam Mendes' American Beauty , not the least of which is that it begins with someone who is being suffocated by life, and features scenes throughout where he regularly thumbs his nose at the establishment.
Most movies just stop there.
Office Space , for example, vibrant and clever as it was, just stopped there. Another reason to like it is for its tragedy angle. Cheated one last time. Tragedy, despite its roots as one of the most basic storytelling structures, doesn't go over well with the ticket-buyers, but works splendidly with the critics. Then there are the performances, which are uniformly excellent, and Spacey, as loser hero Lester Burnham, is especially favored.