Rating: 
Summary: Masterful
Review: The magic of this film for me is how Sam Mendes et. al. managed to make a sublime piece of art using the ugly envy and sad realism lying beneath both our perspective on and experience of suburban life in America. He does for envy, materialism and American familial dysfunction what Andy Warhol did for Campbell's soup cans. It is the ugliness of American Society that serves as fertilizer for what grows out of the kaleidescopic human spirit embodied here that makes our culture so unique. AMERICAN BEAUTY dares us to unflinchingly accept that reality in ways that are so provocatively artistic and amazingly funny that it must be seen to be believed. And all of this is wrapped so exquisitely around the complex plots of a man's mid-life crisis and the corresponding pains of the soul of everyone around him. This movie ironically says some of the most beautiful things about life and love I have ever seen, through the paradoxical effect of portraying both at their ugliest and most absurd. And God, every parent of a teenager needs to see this movie just to see how often children are not only emotionally smarter (and morally stronger) than their parents, but are quite often because of that suffering the indignity of having the roles reversed throughout their lives--despite parents' facetious and hypocritical complaining of the opposite. Suburban life, and American life, in this movie is trashed beyond retelling. But through that process, human life and the human spirit--and American Beauty--is redeemed and celebrated in such a way that it must be seen, perhaps twice, to be fully appreciated. Annette Benning is scary and hilarious simultaneously. The master Kevin Spacey (though he did not deserve the Oscar over Washington's performance in THE HURRICANE last year, sorry; Denzel went into acting history with that), was about as near perfect as could possibly be imagined as both narrator and main character. And the supporting cast of teenagers, despite the magnificent work of the two above mentioned, steal this film from underneath them like nothing in this world. You gotta see it.
Rating: 
Summary: Suitable for the married ones .
Review: Taken seriously, this film is very bothering.It's main aim is to criticize ,in an arresting ,extraordinary way ,the life story of the middle class in nowadays american society. After seeing it with a friend ,we analyzed it for quite a while. The movie is interesting and unusual, but I couldn't help the feeling that it was too much ,too soon for people like us. As youngsters, far away of marriage problems, the occurrences has made us feel uneasy and upset us. It's like we'd got an opportunity to take a glance at the future to come, only to become quite confused... I should stress that the film doesn't deal only with marriage, there are more subjects on the agenda. Still, the main criteria is the familiy and the turmoils it goes through in our age - the materialistic,lonely,alienated,stressing age. It's a heavy film, burdensome and saddening. There are some moments of laughter , but the atmosphere is clearly the above. A memorable scene comes in the end, when a whole new outlook over death is presented, to my opinion the brightest ,but then again, the saddest moment in the film. To end with, I think that young folks shouldn't watch it, it will only confuse them as it confused me . For older ,I don't know ,maybe it represents some of their problems and dilema's. Anyway, it doesn't give a whole new remarkable point of view at these things, it only reflects the current status.
Rating:
Summary: Deadness
Review: Let me free associate a bit about American beauty. I saw many of the characters as being off track--perhaps they had forgotten who they once were.Lester had shriveled to a powerless dweeb under the the tyrannical bitchdom of carolyn. carlolyn had drifted from the spontaneous girl who once flashed traffic helicopters and faked seizures at frat parties. you can see it when Lester asks her what happened to that girl I used to know... and she drifts back to that place if for only a moment and then wigs out about his precarious beer and the 4000 dollar couch. The real estate king and Carolyn are so drunk with success and power that they are mere characictures of who they used to be. I saw jane as finding herself and being willing to make her own decisions and to choose love regardless of the social implications. She seemed to become repulsed by her friend's values. What's interesting is the central characters seem to "find themselves" in a space of about 90 seconds. lester's transformation was the most satisfying for me. His assertion with carolyn and the endearing midlife crisis (e.g. "I rule") He of course over does it a bit with the mid-life crisis stuff, but ultimately returns to self. Ricky was harder for me to peg. I am wondering if he wasn't more for the other characters to play off of. He felt very intensly. Ricky was almost injured by the beauty he saw in life, where the other characters were dead and numb to experinece His family was interesting I mean they were essentially dead. And they were such an insular family. you could see it when they all sort of panicked when there is a knock on the door and they all look at each other frightened.
Rating:
Summary: Screamed to the top of my Movie list...
Review: This move is hands down my favorite of all time. Script, acting, camera work, direction, it's all there. You must watch it if you haven't yet done so, do yourself a favor.......but only on dVd ok : ) DOWN WITH VHS! DOWN WITH BETA! : )
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece!
Review: Great script, directing, acting, cinamatography. See it!
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad....
Review: This is not one of the greatest movies ever made. In fact, I think it is disturbing and overacted. There are some valuable truths to it, though! The film seems to touch upon every subject people are conscerned about today and it has the ability to make any viewer think about his/her disfunctional streak in his/her personality. Kevin Spacey is very good as Lester, but Annette Bening was mistakingly nominated for an Academy Award for her performance. I'm just glad she lost the award, because she did display a good deal of overacting in this film.
Rating:
Summary: Superbly Overrated
Review: this film is another example of the dictum that movies that threaten to "uncover" the rotten heart of suburbia and the american dream start off with three stars from most critics... by now, this is an overused and easy device, that does not stand up to multiple uses....gee, you mean that the suburbs and the nuclear family are not what they seem to be on their placid outsides?...wow... thanks again guys... there is not one new thought in this film that has not been expressed before, and i'm safe in believing that 10 years from now this film will have been mostly forgotten... i still believe it merits 3 stars, for fine performances, a good script, and nice direction, making it certainly worthy of some respect, but the oscar and all this praise below? don't think so...
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful movie
Review: I rarely cry at movies, but this was the first movie that I have cried at in a very long time. The story and the images (specifically the bag in the wind, for those of you who have seen the movie, which is what moved me to tears) are unlike any I have ever seen. Instead of the perfect life/happy ending image common among most movies, American Beauty steps over the edge and shows what life is really like for some, possibly even most. I recommend this movie for everyone (that is, everyone old enough to understand the stories and watch some scenes).
Rating:
Summary: !
Review: In my opinion, absolutely the best film of 1999! Not only is it well written and directed, exquisite performances by Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening and Mena Suvari make it a truly captivating and beautiful film. The score fits the film so perfectly that I can't think of any detail that could be improved.
Rating:
Summary: looking through the looking-glass of life
Review: it's rare to see a movie take what is most available to all humans in life and translate it into a glorious melange of people passing each other with little regard to the ripples they cause to climax into one thread finally entwined pleasure to watch - i laughed for the adults, cried for the children and wished i could have a piece of this life i got home after the movie, and realised that i do have parts of this life - thankfully only parts
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