Review of American Beauty (1999) by Mrmoviebuff — 30 May 2015

I recently just revisited this movie, and I thought I just had to share my opinion. 'American Beauty' is a comedy-drama film directed by British director Sam Mendes in his directorial debut. Since then, he won an Oscar and went on to direct 'Road to Perdition' (2002) and 'Skyfall' (2012).

The movie focuses on a man named Lester (Kevin Spacey), who is going through an intense mid-life crisis. His materialistic wife Carolyn (Annette Benning), ignores him and treats objects like people and people like objects. His 16 year old daughter Jane (Thora Birch) is insecure and is saving up to get her breasts done, she also blames her insecurity on her parents.

Also, Lester's job is hanging on a thread, he feels as if he is unwanted and does not want to continue to work there.

The family also have new next door neighbors moving in, Colonel Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper) with his wife and son, Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley).

One night, Lester reluctantly joins his wife to go see their daughter perform a cheer-leading routine at her high school. It's there that Lester sees something he truly desires, her name is Angela (Mena Suvari). Angela is a good friend of Jane's ironically, and Lester starts to imagine this young girl in many sexual scenarios. Who can blame him? He hasn't been intimate with his wife for god knows how long, and Angela's features including; blonde hair, blue eyes, and red lips are enough for Lester to lust over this young girl. Is it wrong for a man in his 40s to lust over a teenage girl who has no idea about his dirty fantasies? As long as he doesn't act upon it, then he isn't doing something illegal, but morally, it is wrong.

Meanwhile, Ricky seems to have a sort of fascination for Lester's daughter, Jane. Her natural looks and constant belief that she isn't beautiful makes him more attracted and obsessed with her.

Lester decides to change his life around, bossing around his wife and smoking pot and even bulking up to impress the young Angela. Angela, drugs and quitting his dead-end job are the solutions to ending his mid-life crisis.

'American Beauty' is a beautifully filmed picture, with gorgeous cinematography by the late Conrad L. Hall and sure-handed direction from then-first time director Sam Mendes is astonishing and it's no wonder why he won an Oscar for this.

The second half of this movie does get a little slow-paced, and it does drag. But this movie was a very warped experience with all of the emotional disconnection, and I was still gripped. This is one of the best movies of the 1990s, along with 'Schindler's List' (1993) and 'Goodfellas' (1990).