Rating: 
Summary: Great movie!
Review: American Beauty was a terrific movie, one of the best I've seen this year. The screenplay comes with a lot of pictures from the movie which was a big plus.
Rating: 
Summary: The genesis of 1999's best film.
Review: American Beauty was a well-rounded work all the way through -- from the acting to the cinematography, from the production design to the score. No surprise, then, that the screenplay holds up just as well as any other component of the film, even as the film consciously (and laudably) went beyond the script's confines and explored much more on an emotional and aesthetic level.The screenplay (unfortunately, a "shooting script", not an accurate representation of earlier drafts) leans towards comedy a little more without sacrificing the emotional potential of the scenes. The setups and payoffs are brilliant (the Ricky Fitts-Colonel-Lester Burnham dynamic is mind-boggling, and Angela's character arc is highly moving), the dialogue crisp and convincing, and the balance between conventional sitcom techniques and wildly novel scene construction a skillful one. This published screenplay isn't as useful as a study guide to screenwriting -- the construct of American Beauty is too complex, its multiple-character approach too delicate for just any upstart screenwriter (like yours truly) to emulate. It remains extremely readable, a beautiful experience, and an entity that can exist comfortably both in the context of the film itself (the best film of the last 10 years, I would argue) and outside of it, simply as literature.
Rating:
Summary: American Beauty "Spectacular!"
Review: American Beauty was not only a story about life, but it was also a story about finding yourself after you've been lost amongst the beauty your choices tend to spoil. American Beauty reminded me in many ways of Judith Guest's "Ordinary People". Both stories were very dark, but had a realistic humor that seem to be a lasting impression in your mind. The great dialogue that fills the pages of this spectacular story leaves you in awe. Wether its the beauty of a bag drifting through the air or a dead bird lying on the ground, American beauty sums up what it means to be amazed at what someones imagination can present to the world leaving them inspired and sure that there are people out there that observe life to its fullest. American beauty is beauty at its peak.
Rating:
Summary: *Brilliant*
Review: American Beauty.Brilliant. What to say really. This is a exceptional story about a mid-aged man who is reborn, again. Ball and Mendes present us with a typical (dis-functional) American family. In which each member is striving for somthing better. The underlying message Ball is conveying to the Audience is relativly simple (eventhough this film works on so many levels): Life is Beautiful. We need to take the time (like Ricky does) to see the world for what it really it. Lester says somthing which sums up this whole notion "It's hard to stay angry when there is so much beauty in the world". The Screenplay is not a script. It is poetry. Ball, through use of Lester, describes our world with much love. This film is definatly a piece of Social Commentry. A familys asperation for the 'American Dream'. Blake Williams (age 16) -Australia
Rating:
Summary: I just returned from seeing the movie. . . .
Review: And I hurried up to Amazon to see if they had the screenplay. This movie is, beyond a doubt, one of the greatest pieces of artwork ever created. Few films manage to make you fall completely in love with every single character. It is more profound than any movie I've ever seen. It moves from shallowest to deepest in a matter of seconds, then shifts back to surface, then dives deeper, deeper, much deeper still. And, if that isn't enough, it is incessantly immensely entertaining. This movie cuts through materialistic delusions, pretenses of authority, masks of arrogance, and illusions of separation like a lightsaber through butter. It is intensely mystical, intensely profound, intensely real, and if this film does not make you laugh and cry--if it does not touch you in the deepest core of your being--then you are lost in a dream of arrogance and pretension, frighteningly detached from reality. But, as the film's narrator (God, voiced by Kevin Spacey) assures you at the end, you will certainly come around someday. And when you do, when you finally drop the masks and let your heart be torn wide open, then the Timeless Beauty within which all phenomena come and go "like raindrops" will be revealed as your own truest Self, and the unconditioned radiance of Love will be everywhere. Have I lost you? Is this "mushy" or "strange"? Not materialistic enough, perhaps? Well, don't worry, my friend. One day you'll wake up from this dream, too. And when you do, when you completely die into what you truly are, into the unchanging, timeless center of your being--you will never worry again, and a mysteriously unbearable Beauty will be shining everywhere, as obvious as the morning sun, and as stunning as a bullet through your skull.
Rating:
Summary: Beauty!
Review: As a person who likes movies, I don't think I have ever taken away so much from a script. It doesn't so much make you think, as make you feel. Feel so very very much. PLEASE PLEASE read this, or watch the film.
Rating: 
Summary: predictable, stereo-type ridden, too long and lacking subtlt
Review: don't waste your time and money and don't believe the hype.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful piece of work!
Review: First of all this movie was absolutly GENIUS! the power to create such a stir of emotions to a person viewing the film! The characters were developed and played so brilliantly! finaly a screenplay was writen to satisfy the human mind through exploring so many themes such as sex, drugs, affairs, military, homosexuality, love, untouchable lust, midlife crisis and many more. This to me was the most beautiful and inteligent movie of the decade! and a phenominal book as well! ~!
Rating:
Summary: Frightening but dead on for 2000 values
Review: Great book to keep in rare hardcover for a screenplay. Sets up the tensions of 2000 and explores them. The marriage problems are neatly and dramatically resolved. The Colonel finally takes full responsibility for his and his son's marching to a different drummer. The daughter goes out of the madness of her family to a better life than she has known. Awesome clarity. Shows the reader what she is missing in her own married life, maybe a clarion call for a new begining. When it wins the BEST SCREENPLAY Oscar, the hardcover edition will indeed become a treasure.
Rating:
Summary: What do you know?????
Review: Hey, I'm just an average 18 yr old. but did anybody else get high and watch this, the whole sub plot, maybe the things we're not supposed to understand, member when the kid looked into lesters eyes at the end, in the movie, what did he see? It started off with a smile, then something scared him, as does me. If anybody knows what I'm talking about, please e-mail me, or just give me your thoughts. (kingtokr@hotmail.com) -HuRoC- (how bout the buds, huh)
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