in my reviews i try to make gentle recommendations rather than telling you what to see or what not to see .
i realize that we all have different tastes and i can not predict what my audience will like and what they will dislike .
but in the case of american beauty , i must make an exception . if you have n't yet seen it , go see it .
now .
stop reading this review and head for your local multiplex , then after you 've seen it , come back .
i 'll wait here .
welcome back .
if you followed my advice ( and i see no reason why you should not have , do you ? )
, i 'm sure you 've just had one of the richest cinematic experiences of your life .
american beauty is an extraordinary film , a powerful , jolting exploration of the dark side of the american dream .
it 's humorous but it is n't funny because of the unrelenting ominous undercurrent that runs throughout the whole production .
mixing comedy and the darkest of drama was the way this film was intended , and by god , it works , making it one of the year 's very best .
lester burnham ( kevin spacey ) has entered the mother of all mid - life crises .
he is living life without a purpose .
he is bored , depressed and sick of his sheltered , insignificant existence .
he barely ever talks to his family , has no sex life , is stuck at a dead - end job and thinks he has no reason to live .
but one day , when he and his equally troubled wife ( annette bening ) attend one of his daughter 's ( thora birch ) cheerleading performances , he sees something that makes him come alive .
what he sees is the performance by his daughter 's friend , the head cheerleader .
he develops a lust for the promiscuous young girl ; an obsession which soon becomes pedophilic in nature .
but for the first time , lester feels that he is actually living .
this crush is only the beginning .
lester proceeds to make more and more radical changes in his life , buying the car of his dreams , cursing off the boss and quitting his job
( " today i quit my job , told the boss to
f * * * himself and blackmailed him for $ 60 , 000 -- would you pass the asparagus please ? " ) , buying drugs from the voyeur - next - door ( ricky fitts , a teenager who mysteriously videotapes what he considers to be " beauty " ) and refusing to be docile in family affairs .
his new attitude further alienates his daughter , only reassuring her that her parents are nothing more than freaks of nature unjustly forced on her by the powers that be , and inspiring her to enter a relationship with her eccentric neighbor .
and the burnhams 's neighbors provide american beauty with a significant chunk of its dramatic momentum .
ricky fitts ( wes bentley ) serves as the film 's thematic center , providing the obscure , powerful meaning of the title .
colonel fitts , the father , is one of the most fascinating and complex characters in the movie , even considering his limited screentime .
kevin spacey has never been better , and this performance will certainly earn him a chance to put a little gold person on his mantel .
he never plays his droll character as a freak , rather
, he effectively portrays him as a normal person led to drastic self - exploration by his dissatisfaction with life .
spacey is poignant and devastating in the role of a lifetime .
equally astonishing is young thora birch , who plays her potentially stereotypical rebellious teen character with suprising feeling and tenderness .
at two hours and ten minutes , american beauty did n't feel nearly long enough .
it 's a complicated , unforgettable film that , like the ice storm two years ago , dares to explore the darkest reaches of suburban life .
powerfully and cynically , it dissects the notion of the pretty house with the white picket fence and appealing garden being the american dream .
it claims that this picture - perfect image is just that -- an image , and hiding behind it are lives much darker than common knowledge would have it .
the dark , deeply ironic ending , though given away by our narrator in the first few minutes of the movie , stays with you for weeks after it 's all over .
american beauty is just the kind of uncompromising film hollywood needs every now and then to counterbalance the mindless drivel we see released ; even more so considering it 's a masterpiece
.
Output: P