Rating: 
Summary: A tad liberal, but the movie, like Kevin Spacey, rules
Review: I will be the first to admit that I would have preferred Lester Burnham to reach self-content with means other than pot smoking and lusting after teenage girls. It's a very liberal movie - maybe a little too liberal for its intended audience, suburban America. Still, the movie has so many memorable scenes you can forgive that blemish.
Kevin Spacey turns in a performance for the ages as Lester, a man who is thoroughly sick of his life. His wife (Annette Benning) and daughter (Thora Birch) both hate him, his superiors at work want him gone, and his new neighbor (Wes Bentley) is a drug dealer.
Most of the movie centers around Lester's struggle with himself. The movie has several memorable sequence that really rally you behind Lester even though we see the worst sides of him. The kitchen sequence involving Lester's temper tantrum (read: throwing a plate at the wall and screaming) and his makeshift garage weight room are the two best scenes in the film.
The film is highly recommended. It won the Best Picture Oscar for 1999, and no other movie, except for "Fight Club", was more deserving.
A must-have.
Rating: 
Summary: American hooey
Review: American Beauty rivals Requiem for a Dream as the most overrated, overblown film of the past five years.The script boils down to this: if you live in a suburb, you're empty. If you have a job, you're even emptier. But if you're a teenager, you're DEEP, and thinking about BIG THINGS THAT MATTER. When Kevin Spacey tries to time-travel back to teendom, to find MEANING, he hits dead ends. Which is, um, like, so tragic. But what can anyone expect when the moviegoing public is dominated by teens? This film never wavers in pandering to them. At least the young actors do well here, especially Thora Birch, who with fewer lines than most of the leads, shows the power of not saying every last thing on your mind, and, well, ACTING. Kevin Spacey continues to build his career on third-rate John Malkovich impressions, and Annette Bening, who's hung around Boring Warren Beatty so long she's forgotten how great she was in The Grifters, is reduced to yelling her way through every scene. With the mountains of undeserved praise this howler has garnered, you can bet the house that the next Important Film Sam Mendes churns out will be spectacularly overwritten and dreadful. I only hope more people notice when it happens.
Rating: 
Summary: Distrubing reality..spoiler
Review: I read several reviews here before renting this movie. It seemed the reviewers either loved it or hated it. I think the ones who hated it did not understand it or look below the top surface of movie. We see the flaws and pains of each of the characters and we see ourselves and friends and neighbors in this movie. They all have become stale and tired of the going through the motions of thier lives and each decide to change what they can. I think the end of the movie settles it though. As [one character]is dying he says his life did flash before his eyes, and the things he remembered were the "important" things, looking up at the stars as a kid, his love for his wife when thier relationship began, his daughter as a young toddler....he gained perspective on life and realized that his was not so crummy after all. Cuases one to think............
Rating:
Summary: On My Top Ten List for 1999
Review: The first time I saw the now famous poster for American Beauty was months before it opened. I was going down the escalator of a posh local multiplex, and there it was at the end of my descent. I looked at those red roses adorning an actresses midsection, and I remarked to a friend that this looked like a very special movie. I don't what it was about the artwork that made me say that, but it turned out to be an accurate remark. The movie opened in a limited engagement in September 1999 and went on to build and build. In March, it won Oscars in major categories - Best Picture, Best Actor [Kevin Spacey] and Best Director. At the time, there were some nay-sayers who said the film painted too dark a picture of American life. I won't debate this, but I will say that there are precedents in the Academy Awards. For example, Billy Wilder's The Apartment, a scathing comedy about how morally low some people will go to move up in corporate life, won Best Picture in 1961. Brilliant is brilliant, no matter what the subject is, and America has had a seriously cynical side to it for decades. Welcome to the Burnham household. Meet Lester and Carolyn [Spacey and Annette Bening] and their lovely teenage daughter, Jane [Thora Birch]. The Burnhams have it all - the lucrative jobs, the topflight public schools, the perfect suburban home, the immaculate lawn with its borders of American beauty roses. What could possibly be missing from their lives? Oh, just little things like happiness and fulfillment. Lester and Carolyn certainly no longer love each other. Theirs is an uneasy truce. On the surface, Jane comes across as a snide and ungrateful child, but you have to ask yourself who wouldn't be eager to leave such a dismal scene? How often many of us point the finger at our children when what we are showing them are lives devoid of love, passion, honestly and integrity. Jane is a cheerleader at the local high school, and one night the Burnhams decide to attend a game. They want to show support for their daughter, who truly doesn't want them there. Lester sees another cheerleader, a friend of Jane's, and instantly falls in lust. He becomes obsessed with the girl. He quits his job and blackmails his boss into giving him $60,000 severance pay. He buys a red Pontiac Firebird. Carolyn, who constantly berates herself for not being a success, retaliates by starting an affair with an arch rival in the real estate business. Their actions are not exactly what they appear to be. Lester's pursuit isn't all about an older man / young girl relationships. Its about the loss of youth and passion and about the dire consequences that can be spawned by living a whole lifetime of fitting in. Carolyn feels she has totally lost controlnot just of Lester and Jane, but of life as a whole. I think they are after the same answers, only Lester uses a brutally honest approach. And now Jane is really ready to split. Compounding all these problems is the arrival of some strange new neighbors. Col. Frank Fitts is a retired Marine who's feelings are so repressed he's become a walking time bomb. His wife has retreated into a haunting, silent world of her own. Teenage son Ricky is obsessed with videotaping everything he encounters, including Jane. He supports his hobby by dealing vast quantities of dope. Soon Jane and Ricky have a thing going, and everything climaxes for all involved in one bizarre night of the most memorable and improabable miscommunications. Is this a comedy or a drama? That's hard to say. Many viewers do not relate to the Burnhams specific problems, but they do identify with their general feelings. In laughing at them, many of us are laughing at ourselves. Take the problem of trying too hard to fit in. There is nothing wrong with doing this, unless you lose your own identity in the process. And many would agree that, while there is nothing fundamentally wrong with being American, there is currently something fundamentally wrong with American life. Personally, I think it has less to do with moral issues than it does with a basic spiritual emptiness that comes with being obsessed with external appearances and with material goods. American Beauty is a brilliant movie and, to me, probably was the best American film of 1999. Like a few others before it, it stands uniquely on its own, owing very little to movies that came before it. I love the way it peels away the layers of the Burnhams' lives like onions. I admire its essentially nonjudgmental point of view. Best of all, I like the way that everyone is somehow redeemed at the end. Its a movie that makes you wish there were a few more great ones like it out there.
Rating:
Summary: "I rule!"
Review: Two car garages. Neighbors exchanging gardening tips over white picket fences. Mom, Dad and daughter sharing an evening's dinner. Yes, things in this suburban neighborhood appear normal. But, take a closer look. This masterful film is a wonderful character study that puts a mirror up to mainstream America and it is sad to see the disillusioned face reflecting back. Lester Burnham has watched his job spiral down to mediocrity. His wife, obsessed with success now finds little in common with her husband, especially since their melancholy daughter has grown. When Lester finds himself attracted to a teenager also on his daughters cheer squad, he actively makes changes in his life. This carries the film to its bloody conclusion. Kevin Spacey (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) is perfect as the rejuvenated father, who begins to believe in himself again. Annette Bening (THE GRIFTERS) is horrifyingly accurate as the mother who mistakes business success for family unity. Thor Birch (GHOST WORLD) makes the most of her role as the sanest member of the clan, the disillusioned daughter. First time film director Same Mendes (CABARET on stage) weaves this film with both comedy and power based on a smart screenplay by Alan Ball (SIX FEET UNDER). So, this film makes its stunning success by committing to a cynical glance at America and if you can't laugh at yourself, then you can't laugh at anyone. The DVD has a gorgeous audio transfer and the DTS audio commentary will justify that audio receiver you bought. It also includes a self-congratulatory audio commentary featuring the director and screenwriter. Enjoy American Beauty. You'll never look at the neighbors the same way again.
Rating:
Summary: A MASTERPIECE AND A MODERN CLASSIC!
Review: This is one of my two all-time favorite films. It is truely a masterpiece and deserves every award it recieved. It is about suburbia and peoples lives, one imperticular (Kevin Spacey) who is unhappy with his life all together and is looking for something more. First time director Sam Mendes shows sheer genuis with his fantastic direction, Kevin Spacey gives the preformance of a lifetime, and Annette Bening, who completely deserved the Best Actress Oscar of 1999 but did not get it, is spectacular. She is my favorite Actress of all time and Spacey is my favorite actor. This is a must see film. It touched me in a way that is very hard to describe and I hope it will do the same to you.
Rating:
Summary: A fun romp in the study of deviance!
Review: A fun, and thought provoking, bit of viewing for sociology students interested in studying processes of deviance and their affect on both the deviant and his social structure. I've used the film as an extra opportunity for my students to improve their overall grade.
Rating:
Summary: Five star movie, mediocre dvd....
Review: One of my favorite movies ever but the dvd? Very disappointing, mainly because the director speaks of an alternate ending but it is nowhere to be found. Actually there isn't even one deleted scene either, and this is one of the movies that I would have loved to been able to see what was cut. I can only hope that there will be another edition released.
Rating: 
Summary: Counter-Culture = Good critical reviews
Review: American Beauty is perhaps one of the best examples of the fact that if you can be "counter-culure" then you will always have the sympathy of the critics. The story is essentially what teen-agers used to refer to as "Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll". In fact, the story has the feel of what a teenager would write. This is supposedly a critique of suburban culture, but other than being set in suburbia, there is little here that is particular to suburbia. The story's central character is a father who is disatisfied with his life. He lusts after his daughter's friend, his wife is focused on her career, and his daughter has the usual teenage angst over life, etc. His neighbour, who is not the business type, inexplicably reads the Wall Street Journal, (which any young person can tell you is the mark of an evil man). The neighbour's son sells drugs, so that makes him sympathetic and also means that he has a deep understanding of the human condition. Of course, the writers must have realized that drug dealers are not necessarily sympathetic characters to those over 20, so they made sure that the father (remember he reads the Wall Street Journal), is a man who viciously beats his son. In addition, there is another twist to his character that is straight out of an episode of Oprah. Our protagonist, disatisfied with his life, decides to quit his well paying job, which he felt was de-humanizing, and get a job at a burger joint (which is apparently not de-humanizing). He starts to do drugs and listens to classic rock tunes and his life is suddenly better. (See what I mean about the type of story that only a young kid can appreciate?) Alas, his wife doesn't go along with this. She wants to do well at her career and doesn't like it when our hero isn't careful to not dirty the furniture. Clearly, she is not "with it man." (Forgive the 60's phraseology, but that is where this movie belongs). One tired cliche after another is brought out to prove what is wrong with America, though frankly, none of the things they are criticizing are particular to America. (Oops, I forgot: Wall Street Journal = Evil). So why 2 stars instead of 1? The acting is quite good, and there is a certain dreamy like quality to the directing that hides some of the juvenile nature of the plot. Don't waste your time with this laughably immature film.
Rating:
Summary: The type of thing people are scared of.
Review: I work in a video store. Day in and Day out i am subjected to the mindless types of movies people want and the opinions on movies by these assuming [people]. I have found that the average man hates American Beauty because it says somehting they dont like to hear. Epicurean views are strongly condemned by the common place W.A.S.P.s that pollute America. No, this is not a bad film at all. One woman told me in the same breath that she loved "Meet The Parents" and Hated "American Beauty". She claimed it was "shallow", "impossible", and "ridiculous". She also said(exact quote, i wrote this down) "That kindo f crap doesn't happen in America". This kind of ignorance is what the movie is about. If you fall into a thoughtless stasis then life will pass you by, and life is short. Don't let the morality police keep you from watching a good movie.
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