Rating: 
Summary: Kevin Spacey's midlife crisis and THE GIRL!
Review: Strange, Wierd, Provocative. Spacey is brilliant as the advertising executive burnout that transforms the great idea into a collective masterpiece of interweaving performances. Lester Burnhamn, and his equally burned-out, nervous-wreck, wheeling-dealing, real estate saleswoman Bening, is looking for what he lost in high school, while she is figuring out why she is a lousy salewoman. And Spacey finds it in the drug dealer kid next door (whose Marine father happens to be a closet homosexual of all things) and the GIRL - Mena Suvari.Mena Suvari, despite her constant prouncements she's a sex queen, gets the hots for Spacey after he got the hots for her at the basketball game (?)--I was too busy watching Spacey ogle the Girl to notice where they were at. In the end, she was a ... well, watch. Spacey quits his job, blackmails his boss, and goes completely beserk until finding himself. Bening, not sure why they are married, meets the Real Estate King (Peter Gallagher) and finds her own sexual adventure into forbidden territory. Their repressed daughter then falls in love with the drug dealer of all ironies. Dysfunctional family. You think? If you're a guy and want to relive wanting the high school cheerleader of your dreams, and if you're a woman wanting to understand why a guy (or your husband) wants to relive wanting the high school cheerleader of his dreams, this is for you. At any rate, pure art bleeds from this film by Dreamworks. It is one of the top ten of all time. All in all, Spacey gives yet another knock-out performance (his best in my opinion) and the ensemble cast is deliriously funny and seriously deft and decidely--human. A don't miss! [...] P.S - Criticisms of the sexual nature of the film are really ridiculous since it is a taboo and does happen in the minds of all men. Men are not pedophiles just for wanting THE GIRL; they are just reliving a high school experience. [...] It is also why over 50% of Britney Spears' dolls were bought by men over 30. In real life, Britney is THE GIRL!
Rating:
Summary: Truth & Beauty
Review: American Beauty is my second favorite movie. I could talk forever about how great this movie is or about all the "things" that one is supposed to "get" from watching "American Beauty," but I won't. For those of you who have not seen "American Beauty" I say only that the movie tells a story (albeit one that many people don't want to see, or perhaps be confronted by) and tells the story truthfully and beautifully. Whether or not one wants to see a 40-something year-old man obsess over a teenage girl (or any of the other stories and circumstances in the movie) is not important. "American Beauty" is one of the few movies brave enough to expose many of the follies and inhumanities of individuals without wavering; but it also presents the beauty and humanity that lies within every individual (even in Colonel Fitts...watch very closely). To sum things up, "American Beauty" challenges the viewer and makes him think about his or her own life in new ways and about the war between humanity and inhumanity. And if the viewer learns "something" after viewing "American Beauty," then the movie has completed its mission. Some of you may have to meet "American Beauty" halfway...and that's ok. I promise that watching this movie is a fulfilling experience. If you can just give it a chance, then you're giving yourself the chance to become a better person.
Rating: 
Summary: Rip Off
Review: This movie was good but it rip off one of the best movies of the 90'es a film called Happiness. A brillent protray of the dark side of Suburbia. I will admit American Beauty had better photography but thats about it there are so many things the same with both movies. The only two difference is Happiness came out a year earler (thats why its riping it off) and Happiness is way more contreversail and is for adults only before you watch American Beauty watch Happiness than you decide.
Rating: 
Summary: Facile, over-rated, over-hyped movie
Review: This movie was a great disappointment: not much plot, lots of over-acting, glib and shallow dialogue. Definitely did not deserve to win any awards. Waste of money and time. Pity the lowest rating is on the scale is 1 star; I would've given it a negative rating.
Rating: 
Summary: revolutionary film
Review: Although somewhat depressing to some audience members, I found this movie interesting and innovative. "American Beauty", like no other film of its time, presents a bluntly realistic portrayal of American society. The movie creates a category of its own by confronting such touchy issues as adultry, homosexuality, drug trade, depression, and sexual desires. Not only does the movie make a person think of the somewhat twisted world we live in, but it also makes one think of the tremendous amounts of everyday beauty in the chaotic world around us. American Beauty resides as a revolutionary film for not only confronting the sometimes realistically depressing facets of society but for also showing a touch of hope in the small sparks of everyday beauty.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie
Review: I really enjoyed this movie. Lots of great acting and an interesting plot. The DVD is excellent with a great commentary track with the directory Sam Mendes. He really explains his craft and this was espacially interesting as this was his directorial debut.
Rating:
Summary: In Response to Bashing of a Great Film
Review: This being one of my top three all-time favorite movies, I was careful to read the unfavorable reviews on Amazon before I donated my own. The general consensus of those people giving American Beauty 2 stars or lower is that it is "unbelievable." Generally, these people refer to the characters, the plot, all that composes American Beauty's quirkiness. How do I respond to that? If you found American Beauty "unbelievable," then the film was a success. This isn't a movie about taking what we've already seen, it's about taking what we've always been afraid to show. The fact that people are shocked by it and have trouble finding the truth in this film means that it has succeeded in all accounts. If you find this film offensive, if you find it too risque, if you find it "unbelievable" then you are the prime reason why it was absolutely necessary that this film be made. American Beauty appears "unbelievable," I'll admit that; but that is only because we are all so negligent to our own hypocrisy. So many of us REFUSE to relate to Lester, or Caroline, or Angela, even though we secretly know just how dead on their portrayal is. We can say Lester blackmailing his boss is unbelievable, or we can admit that we would have more than a little ambition to do the same when it came our way. We can say that Lester's idealized fantasy with a teenager is unbelievable, or we can look at the mean of male society and understand that most men would have jumped at the opportunity that he had. American Beauty's greatest gift is it's concentration of pure truth. This may be a hard fact for most people to understand and they may deny it to themselves, but keep in mind that with such a diverse selection of characters, humanity can not totally distance itself from EVERY character. Every one holds some internal truth for ever viewer, if they are willing to accept it and not rush to the extremes that classify the whole film as "unbelievable." This film just makes sense; it had to be made; the fact that it turned out so well is amazing. Every time I watch it, I conclude the viewing with the phrase "you learn something new every time." And that is the absolute truth. I become more in tune with my own self every time I watch it; I reach an area of my existence that I have never seen before; I understand my motivations with a new and heightened perception. American Beauty doesn't do that by taking vacant stabs in the dark, it does it by showing humanity's most disavowed characteristics, the ones we regret, we deny, we term unbelievable when it applies to ourselves. This film is a classic. Perhaps it will gain a greater mainstream audience with time, but there is no reason we cannot apreciate it now. The image is recent: of turn of the century life in America. This is US, at our best and our worst. If you're not going to believe just how depraved you are, then you have no reason to believe how moral you are. We are a species plagued with both sides of the spectrum. American Beauty is one of the first films to show this. If only people would Look Closer.
Rating:
Summary: How Did This Movie Win 5 Academy Awards?!?
Review: Movies like this one just illustrate how far down we've slipped since the days of Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, from "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "Vertigo" to ...the idiotic remake of "Psycho" and movies like "American Beauty." I defy anyone to find a COHERENT message in this movie, or even some sort of intelligent point. All I saw was nihilism (which itself is often mistaken for "art") and sensationalism. Of course most people seem to eat that stuff up, though. I've sat next to people who giggled at the masturbation scenes, and at Bening during her sex scene, and I thought, "Am I missing something? Is THIS what warrants an academy award these days?" You've got your obligatory good-looking white goth kids, with parents who don't understand them (how original!)... You've got a VERY stereotyped, ridiculously far fetched sub-plot about a "homophope," who tries to get with the same man whom he thinks is having sex with his son...(sounds like a bad HBO mini series) And then there are the characters, none of which draw any sort of sympathy whatsoever. How does the father liberate himself from his depression? By lusting after one teenager, getting high with another, and neglecting his family. How does the wife liberate herself? By having an affair. And the kids? They talk about murdering their parents. There are no sophisticated or interesting relationships between characters here...just BAD ones. All are infantile and selfish. The point being...? And music? I love The Who, but apparently you don't have to compose new music for films anymore... This is an MTV generation movie. It panders to the lowest common denominator with ridiculous sex (like "American Pie" or "Something About Mary") and "shocking" violence, ala "Boogie Nights." Ho-hum. Then it slips in some "arty" moments with the rose petals and the plastic bag. But it never asks you to THINK, or to put together information in an intelligent way. It insults the intelligence of the viewer, and the worst thing is that MOST PEOPLE DON'T EVEN NOTICE.
Rating:
Summary: Dumb and Dumber. But mostly boring!!!
Review: The picture must have been written by people high on something pretty potent. Picture just jumped around trying to shock the viewer. It tried to be a porno, but was too stupid to make it. All that would be OK if it weren't so BORING!
Rating:
Summary: This will be short & sweet, or not.
Review: i am amazed that this great film is liked by many. In the past, i have noticed films like this one are passed up by the US people, as rude or seen as 'weird.' Personally, i find it excellent.
| 
