American Beauty

***American Beauty*** is a 1999 American black comedy-drama film written by Alan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes in his directorial debut. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, an advertising executive who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, played by Mena Suvari. Annette Bening stars as Lester's materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter, Jane. Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper, and Allison Janney co-star. Academics have described the film as satirizing how beauty and personal satisfaction are perceived by the American middle class; further analysis has focused on the film's explorations of romantic and paternal love, sexuality, materialism, self-liberation, and redemption.

## Plot

Middle-aged media executive Lester Burnham hates his job and is unhappily married to neurotic and ambitious real estate broker Carolyn. Their 16-year-old daughter, Jane, abhors her parents and has low self-esteem. Retired US Marine colonel Frank Fitts, his near-catatonic wife Barbara, and their teenage son Ricky move in next door. Ricky documents the world around him with a camcorder, collecting recordings on videotape in his bedroom, while using his part-time catering jobs as a front for dealing marijuana. A strict but abusive disciplinarian, Frank has previously had Ricky committed to a psychiatric hospital and sent to a military academy. Gay couple Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley, also neighbors to the Burnhams, welcome the Fitts family. Frank later reveals his homophobia when angrily discussing the encounter with Ricky.

During a dance routine at a school basketball game, Lester becomes infatuated with Jane's friend, Angela. He starts having sexual fantasies about her, in which red rose petals are a recurring motif. Carolyn begins an affair with married business rival Buddy Kane. Lester is informed by his supervisor that he is to be laid off; Lester blackmails him into giving him an indulgent severance package and starts working at a drive-through restaurant. He buys his dream car, a 1970 Pontiac Firebird, and starts working out after overhearing Angela teasing Jane that she would have sex with him if he improved his physique. He begins smoking marijuana supplied by Ricky and flirts with Angela. The girls' friendship wanes when Jane starts a relationship with Ricky, whom Angela scoffs at.

Lester discovers Carolyn's infidelity when she and Kane order a meal at Lester's restaurant but reacts with smug satisfaction. Buddy fears a costly divorce and ends the affair, while Carolyn is humiliated and simultaneously frustrated by her lack of professional success. Frank, suspicious of Lester and Ricky's friendship, finds footage Ricky captured by chance of Lester lifting weights while naked and wrongly concludes they are sexually involved. He viciously accuses Ricky of prostitution, which Ricky falsely admits to in order to goad his father into throwing him out. Carolyn, sitting distraught in her car, withdraws a handgun from the glove box. At home, Jane is arguing with Angela over her flirtation with Lester when Ricky interrupts to ask Jane to leave with him for New York City. He calls Angela ugly, boring, and ordinary.

Frank tentatively approaches Lester, then breaks down and tearfully embraces him. Lester begins to comfort Frank until Frank attempts to kiss him. Lester gently rebuffs him, saying he has misunderstood, and Frank walks back out into the rain. Lester finds Angela sitting alone in the dark. He consoles her, saying she is beautiful and anything but ordinary. He asks what she wants, and she says she does not know. She asks him what he wants, and he says he has always wanted her. He takes her to the couch and as he begins to undress her, Angela admits her virginity. Lester is taken aback to realize her apparent experience was a veil for her innocence, and he cannot continue. He comforts her as they share their frustrations. Angela goes to the bathroom as Lester smiles at a family photograph, when an unseen figure shoots Lester in the back of the head at point-blank range. Ricky and Jane find Lester's body. Carolyn is in her closet, discarding her gun and crying hysterically as she hugs Lester's clothing. A bloodied Frank, wearing surgical gloves, returns home: a gun is missing from his collection.

Lester's closing narration describes meaningful experiences during his life. He says that, despite his death, he is happy there is still so much beauty in the world.

## Ugly Qualities

* Rewatching *American Beauty* is going to be really weird in light of Kevin Spacey's abuse allegations.

## Reception

*American Beauty* received overwhelming praise, chiefly for Spacey, Mendes and Ball. Variety reported that "no other 1999 movie has benefited from such universal raves." It was the best-received title at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where it won the People's Choice award after a ballot of the festival's audiences. TIFF's director, Piers Handling, said, "American Beauty was the buzz of the festival, the film most talked-about."

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 87% of 190 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: "Flawlessly cast and brimming with dark, acid wit, American Beauty is a smart, provocative high point of late '90s mainstream Hollywood film." According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 based on 34 critics, the film received "universal acclaim".

Writing in Variety, Todd McCarthy said the cast ensemble "could not be better"; he praised Spacey's "handling of innuendo, subtle sarcasm, and blunt talk" and the way he imbued Lester with "genuine feeling". Janet Maslin in The New York Times said Spacey was at his "wittiest and most agile" to date,. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, who awarded the film four out of four stars, singled Spacey out for successfully portraying a man who "does reckless and foolish things [but who] doesn't deceive himself". Kevin Jackson of Sight & Sound said Spacey impressed in ways distinct from his previous performances, the most satisfying aspect being his portrayal of "both sap and hero".

Writing in Film Quarterly, Gary Hentzi praised the actors, but said that characters such as Carolyn and Col. Fitts were stereotypes. Hentzi accused Mendes and Ball of identifying too readily with Jane and Ricky, saying the latter was their "fantasy figure"—a teenaged boy who's an absurdly wealthy artist able to "finance [his] own projects". Hentzi said Angela was the most believable teenager, in particular with her "painfully familiar" attempts to "live up to an unworthy image of herself". Maslin agreed that some characters were unoriginal, but said their detailed characterizations made them memorable.

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said the actors coped "faultlessly" with what were difficult roles; he called Spacey's performance "the energy that drives the film", saying the actor commanded audience involvement despite Lester not always being sympathetic. "Against considerable odds, we do like [these characters]," Turan concluded. He stated that the film was layered, subversive, complex, and surprising, concluding it was "a hell of a picture".

Maslin felt that Mendes directed with "terrific visual flair", saying his minimalist style balanced "the mordant and bright" and that he evoked the "delicate, eroticized power-playing vignettes" of his theater work. Jackson said Mendes' theatrical roots rarely showed, and that the "most remarkable" aspect was that Spacey's performance did not overshadow the film. He said that Mendes worked the script's intricacies smoothly, to the ensemble's strengths, and staged the tonal shifts skillfully.McCarthy believed American Beauty a "stunning card of introduction" for film débutantes Mendes and Ball. He said Mendes' "sure hand" was "as precise and controlled" as his theater work. McCarthy described Hall's involvement as fortunate for Mendes, as the cinematographer was "unsurpassed" at conveying the themes of a work. Turan agreed that Mendes' choice of collaborators was "shrewd", naming Hall and Newman in particular. Turan suggested that American Beauty may have benefited from Mendes' inexperience, as his "anything's possible daring" made him attempt beats that more seasoned directors might have avoided. Turan felt that Mendes' accomplishment was to "capture and enhance [the] duality" of Ball's script—the simultaneously "caricatured ... and painfully real" characters. Hentzi, while critical of many of Mendes and Ball's choices, admitted the film showed off their "considerable talents".

Turan felt Ball's lack of constraint when writing the film was the reason for its uniqueness, in particular the script's subtle changes in tone. McCarthy said the script was "as fresh and distinctive" as any of its American film contemporaries, and praised how it analyzed the characters while not compromising narrative pace. He called Ball's dialogue "tart" and said the characters—Carolyn excepted—were "deeply drawn". One other flaw, McCarthy said, was the revelation of Col. Fitts' homosexuality, which he said evoked "hoary Freudianism". Jackson said the film transcended its clichéd setup to become a "wonderfully resourceful and sombre comedy". He said that even when the film played for sitcom laughs, it did so with "unexpected nuance". Hentzi criticized how the film made a mystery of Lester's murder, believing it manipulative and simply a way of generating suspense.

McCarthy praised the production and costume design, and said the soundtrack was good at creating "ironic counterpoint[s]" to the story.Hentzi concluded that American Beauty was "vital but uneven"; he felt the film's examination of "the ways which teenagers and adults imagine each other's lives" was its best point, and that although Lester and Angela's dynamic was familiar, its romantic irony stood beside "the most enduring literary treatments" of the theme, such as Lolita. Nevertheless, Hentzi believed that the film's themes of materialism and conformity in American suburbia were "hackneyed". McCarthy conceded that the setting was familiar, but said it merely provided the film with a "starting point" from which to tell its "subtle and acutely judged tale". Maslin agreed; she said that while it "takes aim at targets that are none too fresh", and that the theme of nonconformity did not surprise, the film had its own "corrosive novelty".