Rating: 
Summary: completely mind boggling
Review: I thought that this movie was amazing..i will be one of the first to purchase it when it comes out on DVD...all of the actors where amazing, and the cinematography was great!
Rating:
Summary: ... look closer.
Review: The deterioration of a suburban family has never before been done with such grace. The score and the incredible acting nearly brought me to tears. Certain scenes moved me in such ways that it changed my life. When Ricky Fitts and Janey Burnham finally accept each other, Fitts says with such grace, "Do you know how lucky we are that we found each other?" It's moving. The maple-lined streets and the rose petals serve as excellent metaphors throughout the film, and like in Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," certain colors are accentuated to give more feeling and depth to certain scenes. "American Beauty" is director Sam Mende's first feature film - and I must congratulate him on a job VERY WELL DONE. The casting is exceptional and teenagers should focus their idolization on such talented actors as Wes Bentley and Mena Suvari, rather than Britney Spears or the Backstreet Boys. This film is honestly one of the best films that I've ever seen... Easily one of the best of the year - and that may be why it is nominated for 16 Academy Awards [more than any is the past several years]. The cinematography and the storyline are breathtaking. The metaphorical representation is incredible as well. This is definitely a film that one cannot miss. It may change your life. It changed mine.
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Summary: God I loved this movie
Review: Simply a masterpeice. In my humble opinion the greatest film of modern times. Kevin Spacey plays the father of this family (in his best role since the first time I saw him in a movie in the usual suspects), dumps his job in favour of pumping iron and smoking weed with the boy thats screwing his daughter. I don't want to say any more in fear of ruining the film for you. With one powerful scene after another you will watch this one again and again and again and still not tire of it. if only I could give 6 stars.... :-)
Rating:
Summary: This Film Is A True American Beauty
Review: American Beauty is by far one of the best films of the first century of movies. Its the overwhelming story of people unfulfilled by the "American dream". To see it is to awaken yourself to entirely different purpose in life. Appreciation. The actors are incredibly brilliant, especially newcomer Wes Bentley who plays the visionary of the film, Ricky Fitts. Also, the screen is brightened by the likes of Kevin Spacey and his dry humor and purpose, Annette Bening with her ability to portray a character that you both despise and sympathize with, Thora Birch who plays the angry, misunderstood role of Jane, and Mena Suvari with the sexually curious role of Angela. I personally think that there are some overlooked performances in this film also. The parents of Ricky Fitts being the most under-appreciated. They should all win Oscars! To watch this movie is to be enlightened. If you love film or life, you have to see this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Truly Beautiful
Review: I found this movie extremely touching through its use of characterization and (often black) humor. All the actors in this movie shine in their performances, though Kevin Spacey and Wes Bentley appealed to me the most. The film's analyses of inner workings of a family with a midlife crisis, a failing marriage and an adolescent girl are extremely poignant and real. And the commentaries on sexuality are equally strong. All this in addition to a well-developed plot that draws an audience in from the beginning. I cannot think of a film that I would recommend above this one.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best of the year
Review: Though its content and brutally realistic subject matter may turn off some viewers it is a stunning visual display of what America has become in this generation. Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening stand out as your upper-class average family with its flaws and errs. The haunting symbolism of a rose, petals, fantasy dreams of a life that has all the desires and wants of most anybody, all these combine to create a visual message to the audience that people live a masked life out in the open, whereas behind closed doors the shattering realism and moral decadence of the so-called average family is played out mercilessly. The comedic elements enlighten what could easily be assumed to be a gallery of depression and melancholy. It shows that people today can only find true beauty in what they enjoy doing no matter who or what it hurts and what morals they are tearing apart. It is truthful and honest that today people do what they have to to be happy. The humor is at times laugh out loud and hilarious. Don't miss the great performances. It has an extremely unique opening and closing that so few films ever dare to achieve with chilling effectiveness. The score by Thomas Newman beckons the horrid reality of what America has become in this generation and what the family of today suffers in the breakdown process while it is hidden under a false lifestyle to the outer world. At times it is eerie and frightening and at others lighthearted. Brilliant on every level. Those with a mature and open mind will understand it while those who don't have good sense will make a mockery of it.
Rating:
Summary: In the great tradition of the authentic artistic films
Review: Sam Mendes made his masterpiece to date following carefully the path of golden directors . Think in Billy Wilder to be exact.
Watch for the opening sequence. The camera is a butterfly who sets us in perspective with the voice in off introducing us to the center of the drama.
In this sense I inmediatly reminded Sunset Boulevard , but this secret homagge to that giant film is not a sin.
The script is amazing. It bretahes and allows laughing situations with Spacey and about him , beside the awful emotional crossroad he lives.
Andre Maurois told once : There's an age dramatic for the man , in which he is capable to raise the passion in a woman but not satisfying her *.
And this idea is involved in this film . Rapture images as the famous roses bed and the face of the teenager Angela Hayes (Mena Suwari) who plays the role of femme fatale , superb performance of Anette Bening and above all , the development of the secondary drama of the troubled officer , makes this film as the best dramatic film in many years ; and that means a great hope for those film makers who seem think that the special effects are fundamental in every film.
And this film is the best proof to deny that false premise!
Rating: 
Summary: An amazing film
Review: I thought this movie was awful. It's amazing to me how anyone could like this. I couldn't wait for it to be over. I had to rate it when I saw how many people thought it was a masterpiece? This simplistic piece of badly acted crap? The situaion with the father and the teenage girl is almost child pornography.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated, but well done
Review: American Beauty wants to be subversive, so it throws in "dark" themes such as sexual obsession, and closeted homosexuality. But the subject matter, middle-aged malaise in suburbia (specifically white/breeder suburbia) is old hat , and was better explored in Ang Lee's exquisite "The Ice Storm." We are in cliche land here, so enduring, satisfying love between a married middle-aged man and career minded woman is unthinkable: needless to say, the only hope for the future lies in the love between teenagers: the couple's daughter, and the drug dealing neighbor boy (but with savings of 40 grand he IS a successful business man!) played by Wes Bentley, & Thora Birch. Kevin Spacy is always watchable, and does a nice, work-man like job here. Annette Benning plays the uptight, career driven ball-busting wife on one note: shrill. Her's was undoubtedly the most overrated performance in '99. Chris Cooper does a nice job as the proverbial villain: ex-military, homo hating, wife-child abusing, neo-nazi closet case (whew, Alan Ball managed to get in every last cliche with this cardboard character: Hey Alan, ever consider that homophobes are simply hateful, and not secretly gay?) I can see why this movie seemed so great given the mindless drivel that Hollywood routinely spews forth, and yet, when realizes that the theme of this movie is basically a long rant against heterosexual suburban life, the content becomes so predictable! Are surburban famlies dysfunctional? You betcha! Have we, as a society come up with a better system? Not yet.
Rating: 
Summary: TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT AMERICAN BEAUTY
Review: "American Beauty" is the story of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a man unhappy in his home life, unsettled with the prospect of growing old and disenchanted with his career. Neither his wife, Carolyn (Annette Benning) nor his daughter, Jane (Thora Birch) respect him and his neighbors don't even know who he is. In short, Lester is a man swimming on the rim of a mid-life crisis. But the tide begins to turn in his favor when Lester decides to throw caution to the wind, blackmail his bosses and collect a hefty buy out settlement. Of course, Lester's new found independence does not sit well with Carolyn, who prides herself on being in charge of everyone's lives. To relieve her angst, she takes up with rival real estate agent, Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) while Jane attempts a misguided elopement with her strange boyfriend, Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley). Of course all this upset leaves Lester free and clear to pursue a relationship with the high school trollop and Jane's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). What is so incredibly compelling about Sam Mendes' masterpiece of reflection, is not so much the way all these lives intersect on a crossroads ultimately doomed to destruction, but how ably the director has managed to capture a slice of the decline and fall of America's constitutional motto of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The DVD transfer does a fine job of capturing the stylized color scheme. Colors are rich, bold and nicely balanced. Contrast levels are bang on. Blacks are deep and solid. There is a hint of pixelization that is more obvious during the darker scenes, but it does not distract from your viewing enjoyment. Fine detail is fully realized. Occasionally there is a hint of edge enhancement but again, it is not terribly obtrusive. The audio is 5.1 and delivers a very deep, rich bass, particularly in the music tracks. An audio commentary, featurette and stills gallery round out the limited extras on this disc.
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