Review of American Beauty (1999) by Javier F — 31 Jul 2014

This nearly perfect drama demonstrates how films are meant to be made. Throughout American Beauty, we see intricate layers of tension among several characters as well as a strangely sincere portrayal of airy sarcasm that is witty and clever enough to make this movie rewarding even if viewed simply for its comedy. While the characters and families often seem totally absurd, they are shockingly believable representations of some of the absurdity we see throughout much of society today.

Often films and works of literature in general have a tendency to focus on a single character. We find one well developed personality with great depth surrounded by simple characters placed around the protagonist simply to aid the development of the protagonist. In American Beauty, Alan Ball has successfully created the illusion of entire very real families not only by creating several realistic characters, but by compounding interactions between all of them together in an elegant dancing network of personalities.

This interplay allows us to relate to every single character because we see where each of their personalities come from. It forces us to think of social ethics in a new light because we find that every individual is partly responsible for how the group constantly shapes all of the individuals within it. There is no simple answer for "Who is to blame?" What are we even blaming them for when there are so many factors that go into each individual's emotional state? By revealing the confusing nature of these questions, Alan Ball helps answer some difficult questions about society.

No other film I have seen has been so successful of accomplishing a personality interplay like this with so many characters at once, and this combined with its great comedy is why I award American Beauty with my rating of 5/5 stars that I reserve only for films that I consider to be the best of the best.