Rating: 
Summary: A Great Film
Review: This film is one of the best ones I have ever seen. Honestly, I hated it the first time I saw it in the theaters, simply because I feel the content hit a little too close to home for me, and I felt it was rather depressing. Now I know I didn't understand the message behind the film until I saw it the second time.This movie, for the emotional roller coaster that it is, has an ultimately uplifting message to tell. Not to give away the entire story, but those of you who have seen it, the last five minutes or so are particularly touching to me personally. I highly recommend this film.
Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps the DVD should work.
Review: I very much enjoyed American Beauty the movie, and feel confident that other reviews adequately cover its many strengths and weaknesses. American Beauty the DVD is a different story for me. The DVD locks up in my DVD player after the opening screen asking for the audio preference. (The player is a Dolby/DTS JVC purchased in the middle of 1999) Entertaining as the content of this DVD is, its incompatibility with my DVD player is an annoyance. I wish that I had rented first to ensure that the DVD worked in my player.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the most discussed and debated films of our time
Review: And that, if nothing else, makes it an essential film for everyone to watch at least once. Pauline Kael (RIP) hated it and dismissed it as a pandering lightweight. It made over $100 million dollars at the box office and won 5 Academy Awards including Picture, Director & Actor. Some swear by it as the definitive take on the phenomenon known as the American Dysfunctional Family and have seen it 14 times. Others think that films such as Election and You Can Count On Me tackle such topics as infidelity, sexuality, love, hate, death and middle-America inertia better and without the bluster and distressingly sitcom-y tone of American Beauty. Personally, I could never see my way to hating a film so well acted and directed. The performers, especially the supporting cast, are completely invested in their roles and make strong, bold choices as actors. Sam Mendes, a very gifted & successful
stage director prior to this, keeps the story moving at a nimble pace and manages to establish the world the characters live in vividly so that nothing ever comes across as inconsistent or jarring in terms of Alan Ball's script....which does veer wildly sometimes. It's a shame that Mendes didn't also direct some of Six Feet Under's first season episodes as well. While some refer to the show as "American Beauty Part II: Electric Boogaloo" or "American Beauty Without The Uplift" it does a far better job addressing issues close to Alan Ball's heart and creating more complex characters to represent those views. Unfortunately, their hasn't been a consistent tone with the show yet and the characters behave in ways that suggest that the writers, Ball included, haven't figured out PRECISELY who each character is. Back to Beauty. One of my problems with the film is its depiction of Benning's character. Essentially, Spacey and Benning's Lester & Carolyn behave very badly towards each other and act irresponsibly throughout. Yet the film sides with Lester's sudden awakening and seems to want to punish Carolyn for having ambition. Lester quits his job, buys pot from a next door neighbor and wants to sleep with underage girls. If you knew this person, you would place him under citizen's arrest or assault him. Carolyn has an affair with a real estate broker and learns how to shoot a gun. I think the film would have been better if it had been less harsh on Benning's character and a lot more on Lester. Benning, being the kind of actress she is, is perfection in the film. In every single scene she plays her characters' intent and motivation with laser beam intensity. The quality of her acting only makes it even more clear how unfairly she is being treated. Spacey is more problematic. Throughout the film I kept wondering what it would have been like with Peter Gallagher or Chris Cooper in his role and Spacey as either the Colonel or "The King." As Lester, Spacey seems to be doing his Greatest Line Reading Hits. He delivers each syllable with crisp, tart intelligence. But he never seems like a real person. Just a very clever actor riffing on punch line variations. Cooper manages to make a very bad cliche that desperately needs to be retired somehow convincing and very frightening. Yet he too throws the balance off by being a real adult. You believe he has led a life outside of the camera frame. Gallagher steals it as a vain, small time businessman with a bemused smirk plastered on his face. As the three teens; Thora Birch, Mene Suvari and especially Wes Bentley give performances that could not be improved upon. As Jane, Lester & Carolyn's daughter, Birch is essentially playing the Christina Ricci role except that their really is something sour and unhappy about her Jane. Birch's line readings are always a little bit sleepy and at first it seems like she is doing a poor job until you realize that she is nailing the part dead on. Disaffected teens DON'T deliver Seinfeld-quality timed zingers. There's something always off about her and it was the best choice for Birch to make as an actress. Mene Suvari is the counter to that. Her character is a performance up until the end and Suvari skillfully shows the real character behind the well-executed performance that she is always giving to her friends and to boys. Bentley should have won the 1999 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. End of story. An interesting, if deeply flawed, film that time will tell whether it continues to find new admirers and critics or if it will just fade away like Gentleman's Agreement and other well-intentioned Best Picture winners.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest American picture ever made!!!
Review: It's simply the best film in the history of American cinema. Everything about it is really great.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good, But Once Is Enough
Review: American Beauty is not an easily viewed movie. It's depressing and tragic. It has a nice touch of dark comedy that is quite good, but, there's just something that makes this movie viewable more than once. Kevin Spacey plays a middle aged suburban dad who goes through one hell of a midlife crisis. He quits his job and starts to fall for his daughter's cheerleader girlfriend. Annette Bening plays his harried wife. The actors are all really, really good. Spacey is phenomenal. But, the ending, I don't want to go there. This is a movie that a lot of people are not going to get or will want to watch at all. They should see it at least once. This might not be their cup of coffee or views on how life is, but it's interesting nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: An Ugly Look at Life
Review: The basic story involves three homes in a "peaceful" little neighborhood. The film is narrated by Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) who is married to Caroline (Annette Bening). Their daughter Jane has a friend (Angela/Mena Suvari) who objects to Jane's relationship with the neighbor Ricky (Wes Bentley). If you are a keen observer of life, you will recognize a great number of issues in life that are presented in this story. Men and religious people are portrayed in a negative light. There is an obsession with beauty and youth. Drinking and Drugs are seen as the way to escape. Irresponsibility is portrayed as something honorable. Parents trying to be "just" their kid's friends instead of a guide in life. A fascination with death and the grotesque is presented in a disturbing way. Psychotic Behavior and uncontrolled Violence seem to be the norm in this movie. This is an ugly portrayal of a life not worth living. No one is really happy in this movie. Has anyone noticed that? The characters also seemed to be without souls. Just bodies following every desire or impulse with no guiding principles. Maybe what we want isn't really what we need and maybe what we need is what makes us happy. A profound movie? No, but thought provoking with a shocking ending. Art? Yes, a few rose petals, but that doesn't make it art. This is more like a painting that has black ink splattered all over it and it is falling off the wall. Not the movie, but the ideas presented. There are "erotic" scenes of beauty (rose petals falling from the ceiling), but it isn't quite an art film. Your reaction to this movie says more about you than you will most likely want to know. This was the most depressing movie I have ever seen and I felt no sympathy for any of the characters as they were all too bizarre. What a wasted life when you just live it for yourself. No one in this movie really gives a care about anyone else but themselves. The sickness of spirit without God is very apparent. You can't find joy from only living for yourself. Living a fulfilling life requires an effort on your part and a dose of healthy morality. Society can't exist without it for very long. When you start pulling out the threads of morality that run through the quilt of the American Dream all you end up with is some tattered threads, some ruined lives and unhappiness.
Rating:
Summary: Nuts
Review: I really enjoyed this movie. I like the way that it really took you into these people's lives and exposed you to a level of perversion that you don't get to experience from the outside. I'll admit that the first time I saw this movie I wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about but the more I watched it the more enamored I was with the whole concept. It really makes you want to take a look at your own neighborhood and wonder what is going on out there. Definitely deserving of all the praise.
Rating:
Summary: Less than the sum of its parts.
Review: When first viewed in theatre, I was favorably impressed with this film, not the least of which because of the Oscar-deserving Kevin Spacey. Upon repeat viewings at home, I have to say that it does not hold up. The performances are fine, with the exception of an over-the-top Annette Benning, but the high-handed and the pretentious (the swirling paper in slow motion) treatment by director/writer Mendes of the theme - the illusion that is the American dream - eventually gets under one's skin. The subject matter is a worthy one, I just wish that it had been done with more originality and panache...
Rating:
Summary: What Lies Beneath The Surface
Review: American Beauty: rated R, 1 hour and 58 minutes American Beauty is Spacey at his best...again, but wait, there's more. This time, a team of actors and actresses that nearly show him up accompany Spacey. A true movie ensemble including Annette Benning, Chris Cooper, Thora Birch, and Wes Bentley threaten to steal the spotlight.
A seemingly typical suburban neighborhood gets an in-depth look beneath the shallow surface. An ordinary, financially well-to-do family is followed through the point of view of the father (extraordinary Kevin Spacey). He narrates his life and fills the audience in on all of his quirks, flaws, and limitations, as well as those of his wife (Annette Benning), and daughter (Thora Birch). These introductory moments in which Spacey reveals a side of his family that no one in the neighborhood dare discover are executed with a touch of comical ingenuity. To glance beyond this comical absurdity exposes a miserable, dysfunctional, household with no escape from their perpetual sorrows. When the movie is seen through this perspective, it loses its humor, but picks up a deeper, more real meaning. This double angle that persists throughout the movie is one of the elements that make this movie so brilliantly interesting. To reassess the movie allows the deeper, more serious meaning to become more prominent, but while watching in the moment, laughter is most likely to be the initial overwhelming response. The movie is incredibly unique in its entire concept. It is so clever, serious, and funny all in one. No other movie has risked implementing such an unlikely combination. The result is absolute, inarguable success.
American Beauty deals with the true nature of life, attempting to enlighten its viewers, by doing so in a charming, eloquent manner, as opposed to shoving it down our throats. 'What is beauty?' is the question that this movie raises. Is it found in a nice looking house, a good-natured person, a flower, a gorgeous woman, or is it more abstract than that? What if beauty was found in exceptional circumstances that cannot be reasonably accounted for, or what if it were merely in understanding? All of these ideas are aroused; none are straightforwardly answered, though one theory that seems to come across clearly is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Every moment of every scene enacted in American Beauty is done with such precision and vitality, that they all become memorable without exception. The characters are all well developed. More interestingly, each character is severely flawed, some more than others, but each is forced to account for these flaws. The character of Kevin Spacey, Lester Burnham is one of great complexity, as are most in the movie. Lester has just decided that he would like to do more with his pathetic life than laze around and remain to be pathetic for eternity. He revives a suppressed, vivacious identity that he soon embraces. With this new livelihood, comes a price. His wife and daughter who have grown exceedingly distant through the years are not ready to take on a whole new Lester Burnham.
To say that American Beauty exhibited superb acting throughout would be a major understatement. Kevin Spacey was utterly astonishing in his ability to convey the character of Lester Burnham. Annette Benning as Lester's wife, Carolyn Burnham was as she has never been seen before. In comparison to her flaky, overdone role in The Siege, she seemed to have undergone some sort of miraculous endowment of acting skill, as well as passion for her part. She worked beautifully with Spacey, as did the daughter, Thora Birch, and the rest of the crew. No one was really better than anyone else because each actor played his role with such grace and dignity that none can be considered second-rate. The rest of the credit is awarded to first-time feature film director Sam Mendes who envisioned the entire film. It was he who set the mood, worked on the unique camera angles, informed all of the actors of how there characters were to be projected, and it was he who incorporated all of the minute fine points into a giant masterpiece.
No complaints can be made of the unblemished American Beauty. It deserves Oscar attention to the highest degree.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful use of the cliche
Review: This flick is a string of tired ol' images and characters. The plot is worn out; every concept is borrowed and boring. Everything about this flick is a cliche. On the surface. I think that was by design. Oooh that's scary. You can't say one bad thing about the performances, the script, the cinematography or the score. And if you can, well... I don't wanna talk to you anymore -- you're obviously WAY too smart for me. (ah-hem) This is one of those movies that will surprize you if you let it. After purchasing this version and viewing it, I felt like it'd let me down... but then, discussing it a few days later, I realized there was still more that I got out of it (I saw it on the big screen three times, and this was the fourth overall.) I'm still convinced that some stuff coulda been left off, but I'm willing to give it a chance next time around. So what about the second tape? This version has additional footage: it has trailers for other movies (I love that, it reminds you of what all came out at the same time), it has the awards reel (I think they call it the awards reel) what the studio sends to the awards shows' voters, I guess, with all of the critics' blah, blah, blah and a little "making of" action... it's OK. The rest of the second tape is Conrad Hall and what's-his-name-the-director going over the storyboards. At first, it was like zzzzzzzzzzzz, but it's OK too, if you're into that sort of thing -- y'know, the sort of thing that's in the DVD, but no-one every really watches. No-one really watches, but when they find out you don't have a DVD player, they tell you about like you're missing out or something.
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