American Beauty

Plot synopsis:
Lester Burnham is a middle-aged advertising executive and magazine writer who despises his job. He is unhappily married to Carolyn, a neurotic yet fiercely ambitious real estate broker who grows red roses in their yard; their teenaged daughter, Jane, abhors her parents and has low self-esteem. The Burnhams' new neighbors are the Fitts family, consisting of homophobic retired United States Marine Corps Colonel Frank Fitts, his near-catatonic wife, Barbara, and their teenaged son, Ricky, who constantly films his surroundings with a camcorder, collecting hundreds of recordings on videotapes in his bedroom. His job as a part-time bar caterer serves as a front for his secret marijuana dealings. Frank is a strict disciplinarian who previously sent Ricky to a military school and briefly committed him to a psychiatric hospital. Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley, a gay couple who live nearby, welcome the Fitts family to the neighborhood. On the way to school, Frank reveals his homophobia while he angrily discusses the incident with Ricky.
Lester becomes infatuated with Jane's vain friend, Angela Hayes, after seeing her perform a half-time dance routine at a high school basketball game with Jane. He starts having sexual fantasies about Angela, in which red rose petals are a recurring motif. Carolyn begins an affair with her married business rival, Buddy Kane. When Lester's boss and efficiency expert, Brad, tells him that he is to be laid off, Lester instead blackmails him for $60,000 and quits his job. Lester takes a minimum-wage job at a fast-food restaurant, trades in his Toyota Camry for his dream car, a 1970 Pontiac Firebird, and starts working out after he overhears Angela tell Jane that she would find him sexually attractive if he got in shape. He begins smoking marijuana supplied by Ricky. The girls' friendship wanes after Jane starts a relationship with Ricky. Jane and Ricky bond over what Ricky considers the most beautiful imagery he has filmed: a plastic bag being blown in the wind.
Lester discovers Carolyn's infidelity, but reacts indifferently. Buddy ends the affair, fearing an expensive divorce. Frank becomes suspicious of Lester and Ricky's friendship when he finds his son's footage of Lester lifting weights while nude, which Ricky captured by chance, leading him to believe that Ricky is gay. After spying on Ricky and Lester through Lester's garage window, Frank mistakenly concludes the pair is sexually involved. He later confronts and beats Ricky for the supposed affair and accuses him of being gay. Ricky falsely admits the charges and goads his father into expelling him from their home. Meanwhile, Carolyn is sitting in her car in the rain, taking a gun out of the glove box while a voice on the radio talks about not being a victim. Jane argues with Angela about the latter's flirtation with Lester. In the midst of their argument, Ricky appears and convinces Jane to flee with him to New York City and assures Angela that she is ugly, boring, and ordinary.
Frank confronts Lester and attempts to kiss him; Lester rebuffs the colonel, who tearfully flees. Carolyn puts the gun in her handbag, shouting, "I refuse to be a victim!" Lester finds a distraught Angela sitting alone in their darkened living room; she asks him to tell her she is beautiful. He does, and they kiss.
Carolyn drives through the rain, rehearsing a confession to Lester. Just as Lester and Angela are about to have sex, Angela admits her virginity, prompting Lester to change his mind. He instead comforts her and the pair bond over their shared frustrations. Angela goes to the bathroom and Lester smiles at a family photograph in his kitchen. An unseen figure raises a gun to the back of his head, a gunshot sounds, and blood sprays on the wall. Ricky and Jane find Lester's body, while Carolyn breaks down crying in the closet. A bloodied Frank returns home, where a gun is shown to be missing from his collection. Lester's closing narration describes meaningful experiences during his life; he says that, despite his death, he is happy because there is "so much beauty" in the world.

Tags: pornographic, comedy, dark, murder, dramatic, cult, violence, thought-provoking, flashback, psychedelic, satire, romantic, entertaining, sentimental

Review:
Supporting cast members such as Wes Bentley (Ricky Fitts), Thora Birch (Jane Burnham), Mena Suvari (Angela Hayes), and Chris Cooper (Col. Frank Fitts) only add to the drama of this film.
I think the most special aspect of this film is how all of the characters intertwine in a way that is believable, yet fantastic at the same time.
Sure, there are some comedic moments, but by the end, those moments were all but forgotten when faced with the grim reality of the conclusion of the events portrayed in this film.If you want to watch a light-hearted film with some elements of comedy and some elements of drama, don't see American Beauty.
Nevertheless, this one was a certain exception.It is a wonderful psychological drama, a satire about the American community and about the American life; dark, painful irony and cynicism in the descriptions of life and characters; deep sarcasm on types of people in the community, habits of behaviour such as "...if you want to succeed, you always have to seem successful..." or "never stop smiling", parasites of the community, and, most importantly, the treatment of people who are "different", who are "freaky" to some extent; and eventually, there is no character in the film that is not odd in its way, although we have to wait for the very ending of the film, to discover this.With very deep and accurate exaggeration, (most of) the characters in the movie demonstrate the worst, the darkest sides of their personality, while still remaining very human, very touching and very involving the observer.
The tragi-comical events, the little pieces of funny, disturbing irony dripping from almost every episode, lead the observer to exploration of the American Beauty -- the beauty in life, and the way that we fail to find it, for all our life; the way we hide our feelings and emotions, even behind sullen walls of our sepulchre.The acting is truly brilliant, the episodes are built logically, coherently, the dialogues are deep, thrilling, intriguing; every sentence and every word is deeply constructed, containing profound irony and intelligent elements of humors.
Sam Mendes' brilliant debut feature depicts a web of characters who yearn for their own 'American Dream' - yet, in the end, only one character truly attains it.Having seen "Happiness" only recently, I could not help but draw comparisons: both films centre around a microcosm of society in which the people, in their own unique way, all strive to be successful or simply 'happy'.
"Happiness" shows no signs of redemption; whereas in "American Beauty" the audience is offered a sense of hope, of salvation, though the characters must endure a similar fate, or more accurately, they must endure the way of life in which they are trapped.The pivotal character upon which this theme centres, is the father Lester, played impeccably by Kevin Spacey.
And how this rings true: like in "Happiness", all the characters hide underneath this veneer of normality and respectability, yet they are all revealed to be nothing but the opposite: depressed, depraved and desperate.Lester's wife, played by Annette Benning, is the most success-driven character in the story which renders her the most hopeless in the film's tone of moral conviction.
Yet it is through his sacrifice that he is able to afford the surviving characters a glimpse of hope in life.This film left me gasping for air: its hyper-realism conveys, at the same time, a portrait of the suburban comedy, a jolting-shock of realisation, and a cathartic sense of hope.
Though whilst one may have difficulty with tagging this film with the 'feel good' label, the beauty of "American Beauty" is that it sits half-way between a desperate cry for help and a reassuring sense of happiness and fulfilment and that is cinema at its best..
This dark comedy drama marks two fantastic feature film debuts with Alan Ball as writer and Sam Mendes as director (both winning oscars for their sterling efforts).Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham, a man on the brink of a mid-life crisis, who suddenly becomes obsessed with one of his teenage daughters friends played by Mena Suvari.
And his wife Caroline (Annette Bening) has an obsession of her own, her public appearance.Life starts off on a downer for the Burnhams and their new neighbours the Fitts despite their lives looking good from the outside.As life begins to improve (with most of the main characters finding what they think is love or new relationships) it soon all comes crashing down in the climactic final day.The writing is nothing short of brilliant and made even more amazing by knowing that it comes from a first time feature film screen writer Alan Ball (who had had years of prior experience writing TV sitcoms -  not  that you'd be able to guess from the tone of this film).The directing is on a par with the writing and Sam Mendes manages to get some brilliant performances from the great cast, who are all faultless.
The idea and concept of "American Beauty" is just some ordinary people on an ordinary block with ordinary lives.Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnam, a middle aged married man who has lost some hope in life.
Kevin Spacey was by far the best actor in 1999 and deserved this Oscar 100%.Annete Benning plays Carol Burnam, Lester's wife.
This film was one the best ever made and should be seen by everyone hows looking for great movie or how just want have fun watching a movie..
"American Beauty" is one of those rare instant classics, a landmark of the 90's and one of the best debut features ever (which is both a blessing and a curse for a director - let's hope Sam Mendes doesn't end up like Orson Welles).This bittersweet tale of ordinary suburban lives about an average husband (Kevin Spacey), his ambitious wife (Annette Bening), their unhappy only child (Thora Birch), the weirdo next door (Wes Bentley), his severe father (Chris Cooper), his catatonic mother (Allison Janney) and a certain blonde cheerleader (Mena Suvari), reaches a heavenly level of authenticity and poignancy thanks to a witty, pitch-perfect script (by Alan Ball, who would later create the brilliant TV series "Six Feet Under"), a wonderful cast (Spacey and Cooper, especially), Mendes's sensible directing, Conrad L.
That's because they're real, and great writers like Ball have a special talent to expose the good, the bad and the ugly in human nature.My only "problem" with this film is that it came out in 1999 (one of the greatest years for films, ever), just like my all-time favourite, "Magnolia", which was almost completely snubbed by the Academy (which gave "American Beauty" 5 Oscars, including Best Picture and Director).
"American Beauty", even without being the best film of its year, still manages to be a masterpiece."It's just a couch!", Lester (Spacey) yells in one scene.
In American Beauty, the anti-consumerist is, first of all, a total hypocrite, and second of all, has a life changing epiphany the moment before his death, but never gets a chance to expound upon what that epiphany was.On the hypocrisy charge, consider the oft-quoted scene when Lester Burnham (magnificently portrayed by Kevin Spacey) yells at his wife Carolyn (played in an over-the-top caricature by Annette Bening) for placing too high a value on material things, in this case, a sofa.
First of all, her breasts don't appear to need augmenting (when I saw this in theaters, I thought she must want to reduce her breasts, but upon looking closer, the computer monitor clearly says "augmentation", which means a process of adding to).The worst flaw of the film, by far, is the fact that we have one horrible cliche repeated twice in the space of minutes in the final act.
"There's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it." I do not this see anything wrong with it, it was a simply a great movie to watch.
At the end of this film, Kevin Spacey's character talks about the idea of one's life passing before one's eyes at the point of death.
If such a phenomena is true, then I fervently pray that, at the moment of my demise, the two-plus hours I sat in the theatre watching this dreadful movie will be omitted by the Great Film Editor in the Sky. I knew as I left the theatre, long before the awards, that this movie would win the Oscar for Best Picture.
But I can sum that all up in a different manner: "There is no bad aspect of this film." Everything works together to perfection to provide the most outstanding movie of this age."American Beauty" is quite simply the most significant film of its time.
Perhaps this "charming" little flick about a middle aged man who calls his daughter's underaged friend and almost seduces the girl is appealing to all those Woody Allens out there, but to me it was just another Hollywood excuse to show young women's breasts on screen (which, of course, means they can now win Oscars).But what really makes the film so deplorable is the insipid script, a plot that is so unbelievable that it forces the Hollywood hacks working on it to create silly situations just so the ending can occur (maybe the plot was written back asswards, which would explain the manipulated dialogue and plot lines that are needed to get to the murder), and over-the-top, cartoonish characterization by all the adult actors involved.
A definite addition to my Ten Best List for 1999,  is AMERICAN BEAUTY which is sure to earn Kevin Spacey, Annette Benning  (robbed in the past for her work in BUGSY and THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT),  and Alan Ball (most original screenplay to come along in awhile), Oscar nominations.
One the other hand, "American Beauty" is a thought-provoking and emotionally devastating character study of two families finally achieving joy for the first time in their lives, unaware of the profound impact they are having on themselves and each other, and neglecting the consequences that will inevitably follow.
But the main thing that makes this movie soar are the performances, Kevin Spacey and Anette Benning are simply sensational as the feuding married couple exploring new realms of life,  Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper, Mena Suvari and Thora Birch also showcase excellent performances.
It thoroughly deserves its best picture award!What makes American Beauty works is its well-observed characters.
At the centre of the film we've got Lester Burnham, who is fantastically played by Kevin Spacey (another throughly deserving award winner) and is going through a mid-life crisis.
The film would need very little plot at all to keep it entertaining as all the characters are memorable and well-crafted, which means American Beauty never has a dull moment.
"Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family, can never be a real man" (now, _that_ was a great movie.)* A note about the soundtrack: anybody playing the piano should use at least three fingers, unless they want to beat the world record for annoying music.To make a long story short: the people around me laughed loudly in the first 10/15 minutes, then began to chuckle as the realization that they had burned 10$ slowly crept over them.
The scene with the bag blowing in the wind was the single most brainless thing I've ever seen in a movie, except in Z-grade sci fi or horror (and it gives some of those films a run for their money.) This pic would be perfect for MST3K if it weren't so brain-deadeningly dull.
The comedic undertone slowly becomes more unsettling as the events spiral to the extremes.Kevin Spacey, Anette Bening and Chris Cooper all give great performances in this movie that help make their characters more sympathetic while still with questionable acts.The trailer makes the movie seem like a generic 90s American family comedy where the focus is in Kevin Spacey but that couldn't be further from the truth.It's a great subversion of the ideal American family taken to an extreme in which it could go any direction.
This movie deserved every academy award that it won (but it did deserve more.) Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham.
American Beauty really is a masterpiece and probably one of the best films ever to have been made.
It's also funny that this is called an American Classic when the director, Sam Mendez (Road to Perdition), is in fact English.Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a loser who hates his wife (Annette Benning- The Grifters, Mars Attacks) and whose daughter (Thora Birch- Patroit Games, Ghost World) hates him, whose life changes when he black mails his boss, falls for his daughters best friend (Mena Suvari- Atomic Train, American Pie 1 & 2, The Musketeer) and is introduced to the world of drugs by his neighbour (Wes Bentley).I know wrote in a previous review that I see "To End All Wars as better film-making triumph" and I still stand by that, but you just can't help but to be drawn in to this wonderful movie by the amazing Academy Award winning combination of Alan Ball's screenplay, Mendez's direction and Spacey performance..
But just in case it did pass you by, for whatever reason, i suggest that you see it as soon as possible.The characterisation is sublime and has not to my knowledge been matched since, every stereotypical character is so realistically portrayed, by a combination of fine acting, great writing and excellent direction; that you feel a connection with everyone in the movie.I won't try and link this film with any particular genre, as i believe it stands out on its own, but i will say this.
Kevin Spacey, who is simply brilliant stars as Lester Burnham , a sexually frustrated, average American husband/father who is undergoing a mid-life crisis as he hates his job and his relationships with his wife Carolyn (played superbly by Annette Bening) and daughter Jane (Thora Birch) are strained due to a number of reasons, one being that he becomes attracted to his daughter's best friend, Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari).
With the cast, everyone knew their roles in the movie and played them accordingly, Kevin Spacey as the lovable loser, Annette Bening as the ambitious and materialistic wife, Thora Birch as the self esteem-less daughter and in one of her first big roles, Wes Bentley as Ricky, the likable next door neighbour who loves his camcorder and Jane's friend, Chris Cooper as Col Fits, a homophobic, strict disciplinarian father, Allison Janney as the silent wife, Mena Suvari as the egotistical best friend and even Peter Gallagher as Carolyn's real estate rival, Buddy Kane.
This film deserved it's Oscar's for Best Picture, Best Director (Sam Mendes), Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography as well as the other nominations including Best Actress-Annette Bening but in saying that, I thought the acting standouts besides the two leads could have been nominated as well including Best Supporting Actress- Thora Birch or Best Supporting Actor- Chris Cooper who put in one of the performances of the year 1999 and has stuck with me ever since or Wes Bentley; either one, take your pick, they were both great..
With some of the best writing, characters, and scenes ever put to film, American Beauty is simply a luscious and beautiful movie.
He is quite the scene-stealer, and often outshines some of the other actors.Overall, American Beauty was a fantastically good film with some of the best writing around.
In many ways, American Beauty claims an obvious spot on the short list of top films because of its litany of recognition, including five academy awards (one Annette Bening overlook shy of the prestigious Silence of the Lambs best picture/director/actor/actress sweep), and overwhelming critical support.
I like to think I am a few years off a midlife crisis but I can see my life in Lester's feelings, as many of us can - hence the film's success.
American Beauty, released in 1999 and starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, and Mena Suvari, couldn't be ordinary if it tried.
The movie is a deep, wonderful, and penetrating film that will leave the viewer not only questioning their life, but American society as a whole.
The tag line of this movie is "Look Closer", which is exactly what American Beauty does with its portrayal of the Burnham and Fitz families.
I know people like to say "If you enjoy philosophizing, you'll LOVE this movie!" about their favorite films, but I believe in this case it's true.
But I admit American Beauty does fall victim to two too noticeable slapstick-like instances that seem out of place because the rest of the movie is so good.
I could physically see the action happening in my head, without even knowing who played the characters, and every single word was just as impactful (if not more) than if I had seen it on the big screen.This is an overall EXCELLENTLY written movie, with an incredible plot line and especially the twisted ending.
I'm not good in writing critics,i just wanted to say that this is definitely one of the best movies I ever saw.And I feel very lucky to know that it touched me, and reminded me of things I knew already but were hidden inside.The choice of the actors is also a big plus in this movie,they're all excellent.Anette's Benning was really impressing for me,I actually never pictured her in such a roll,but she was really brilliant.Nothing else I could add about Kevin Spacey...WOW!
Wes Bentley was all-right but I didn't like his character and thought that the movie would have been a lot better off without his story line.
I have to agree with those IMDb reviewers who simply cannot understand how this movie won the Best Picture award or for that matter, how it is even considered a good film.
Oscars also went to Sam Mendes for his direction, Ball for his original screenplay, and--incredibly--the film as Best Picture of the year.
'American Beauty' is a film about people and how they live.