Rating: 
Summary: good movie, too much propaganda
Review: Sometimes someone is trying to get a message across just too badly. This was a fine movie with some great writing and acting. I even like the plot a lot. I only have two qualms with the movie:1) the alienation in the suburbs motiff has been done before. It's just too much. The plus side is that the message is multi-layered so it is worth repeat viewing to just examine what exactly the story is critiquing. You know it is complaining about something, but the story is too engrossing to bother thinking too hard about it on the first viewing. But after you see it again and you think about it, I found it too preachy. In a liberal, holier-than-thou sort of way. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, I don't know. The movie aimed high and achieved a lot... That's why I leave off a star. You could see this coming a mile away. You just have to acquainted with leftist dogmas. You see, everyone who disagrees or hates gays is just self-repressing their own emotions. Shallow, shallow, shallow.
Rating: 
Summary: And the winner is...
Review: AMERICAN BEAUTY! American Beauty is a winner for a life time. After reading some of the other reviews, I would have to agree with all of them. The first time I saw this movie, I wasn't really paying much attention. As the movie progressed, I just got mad when people were talking when walking into the living room. My friend's mother thought this was equivelant to a porn movie, but it is so much more! It has so much beauty in it. It is really an amazing movie. Since it is already out of the theatres, I would definately agree that this a movie to BUY!
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest movies ever told.
Review: Words can not describe the emotions that I feel when I view this move. Having grown up watching an untold number of horror and action flicks, my mind and soul have become immune to all forms of compasiion and understanding. In the past ten years, the only movies that I have been touched by have been Schindlers List, Magnolia, and Platton, and now American Beauty. I laughed, sat at the edge of my seat, and cried for the eniterty of the film. When I left the theater my emotions were so mixed up that I did not know how to feel. But this is a good thing. I recomend this movie to anyone who has been rendred a heartless zombie, by hundreds of action movies,and think that they need some sort of feelings to remind themselves that they are still alive. Please excuse my spelling.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT in All Areas
Review: American Beauty is a perfect movie. Everything about it is astounding. The script and acting are phenomenal. There is not one actor (leading or supporting) who is not brilliant--and I mean BRILLIANT. It is also virtually flawless cinematically, and your eyes and ears will love you for watching it. Watching Lester (Kevin Spacey) transform from a compliant peon to a person of system-bucking defiance is thoroughly entertaining, and seeing the relationship develop between Jane and Ricky is a reminder of what it's like to have your heart engulfed by someone else. So the movie itself is absolutely PHENOMENAL; but it's disappointing that the DVD does not include the alternate ending (which focuses on Jane and Ricky after Lester's murder). It seems likely that it will be released on a later version, but this movie is SO great, that you may as well have two copies.
Rating: 
Summary: Moments of brilliance but lack of focus
Review: Well, the film doesn't move me as much as I thought it should. It begins nicely with moments of black comedy that bring the great 1989 film "War of the Roses" to mind. But it gets more and more somber and ponderous towards the end. The performances are an odd mixture: Annette Benning, Kevin Spacey, and Mena Suvari are energetic and satirical, while Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper are so low key and deadened it seems they belong in a different movie. The various scenes involving voyeurism, teenage drug use, homophobia, would-be patricide just don't come together in a cohesive, meaningful whole. In the end, the film, like the characters in it, simply gropes around for a resolution. The film does have brilliant performances by Benning and Spacey, and some memorable dialogs ("Our marriage is just a commerical for telling people how normal we are"). But a tighter and more focused narrative, and more satire and irony throughout would yield better results.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent BUT a little deep! Need high concentration
Review: I think it is the best movie I have seen during this year besides Anna and the King, and sixth sense. I think this movie is deep. Some people don't understand it, so they think it does not make sense.
Rating:
Summary: Stays with you...
Review: Let's see, the cultural conservatives hate this movie because it leaves no possible dysfunctionality unturned. And hard-core artsy types don't care for it because it's not nearly audacious ENOUGH. But most viewers, I suspect, will find an intelligently paced, very well acted and beautifully shot film that they will not quickly forget. Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening got the Oscar nods, but the younger actors, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley and Mena Suvari were all spot on. And Chris Cooper and Peter Gallagher turned in remarkable performances as well. I won't say it's a perfect movie, but it is a film of genuine substance--the kind that lends itself to multiple interpretations and multiple viewings.
Rating:
Summary: A new classic
Review: Take everything you know about your life and imagine that you are going to have an incredible wake-up call in under 2 hours. The characters are human and honest even in their most distressing moments. As much as I adore Mena Suvari, her acting performance wasn't nearly as stellar as Kevin Spacey's. 'American Beauty' may or may not have the typical Hollywood ending, but the hidden message is one of those deep, powerful things that will stay in your mind for days.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: The general population seems to be split on whether they loved or hated this movie. All, however, will be forever haunted by it. I doubt that there is a person alive who could not relate to at least one of the beautifully crafted characters, which included everything from a success-driven consumer wife, to a helpless man on the brink of an awakening, to a constant observer who finds himself burdened by the splendid beauty of the world. This film is so simple due to its portrayal of seemingly ordinary life, yet so involved at the same time due to the fact that nothing is as it seems. In this way, the film creates a metaphor for life itself, which seems to be quite plain and simple, yet is anything but. There are no ordinary things, nor are there ordinary people, and when a person looks closer, they will find that there is beauty in everything. This message is one that will stay with the viewer, despite their opinion of the film.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Tragedy
Review: This is the type of movie you have to sit down and pay 100% ATTENTION to the plot, overwise, you will miss the entire plot. A GREAT MOVIE with GREAT ACTORS! Kevin Spacey is one of my favorite actors.
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