Rating: 
Summary: "WHAT A BEAUTY! "
Review: This is quite simply the most moving film I have seen in years. I have seen the film over and over and it never fails to move me. Annette Bening is wonderful and so believable it hurts and as for the BRILLIANT Kevin Spacey he has to be the most talented actor of our generation. Simply perfection.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Stunning
Review: "American Beauty" is the best film to hit the silver screen in as long as I can remember. Stunning visuals, self-aware editing and a gripping story make this movie immensely viewable and very moving.Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening turn in the best performances of their career. The soundtrack is haunting and completely reminiscent of the feel of the movie. There isn't a split-second in this movie that should even be considered for a change. I adored "American Beauty" and felt that it was the most mature, compelling piece of cinema I've ever seen.
Rating:
Summary: An American Beauty! Look closer...
Review: Bought by Steven Spielberg for Dream Works Pictures, the screenplay of "American Beauty" was given to the British director Sam Mendes (this is his first movie) with just one condition: "Don't change even a line". Result: the movie is being acclaimed by American and international press and, due to its favoritism (American Beauty is the winner of three important Golden Globes: best screenplay, director and picture), it is being considered the motion picture that will probably win the Oscar for best picture of the year. "American Beauty" is one of those unusual motion pictures, that eventually come up to show that the industry of American Cinema is not restricted to commercial productions to be consumed by the public, without any sense of criticism. It is a narrative, which constantly sways between comedy and drama, starring Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening, that concerns the appearances of our lives, based on the relationship of a suburban American family. What the movie try to and does demonstrate is that, in fact, nothing is what appears to be. (that is why the movie tagline "... look closer" makes sense) In "American Beauty", almost all the characters pretend or seem to be what they really don't are. All except Lester Burnham, performed by Kevin Spacey, who, with nothing to lose, do vanish all appearances, starting to behave like a teenager, as a try to escape from the familiar coma. Slowly, this brilliant story discard the apparent American beauty. There is no more American way of life, there is just life. And the beauty is found in the most ordinary things of life. We just need to look closer. And this is the essence of the movie, this is what makes it an excellent American film, with excellent screenplay, direction and performances. Hollywood makes history with "American Beauty", marking a time of turning its attention to more mature and better written scripts. Now, it is going to be perfect if the public accepts this new style of American movie and start to face cinema as an art and not a mere entertainment. So, take a look! We don't see a film like this every time we go to the movies.
Rating:
Summary: An Absolutely Brilliant Film...
Review: American Beauty is an exquisite film masterpiece. Through a flawless combination of brilliantly executed acting, superb character dialogue, and stunning imagery...American Beauty is able to accurately, darkly, and comically examine life behind the tranquil facade of American suburbia. The film renders a powerful message without moralizing, while making use of extremely sharp and witty comedy. The transition between scenes can be surprising, but always maintains fluidity and coherence throughout. It is impossible to watch American Beauty without evoking feelings that run the gamut of the human emotional spectrum. You'll laugh...you'll cry...but most of all, you'll think. You need to see this film!
Rating:
Summary: A truly marvelous piece of cinema
Review: The sheer aesthetic beauty of this film is unimaginable. The acting and directing are superb, with few noticeable encumbrances. By far one of the greatest lampoons ever, with biting diatribical satire. An instant classic that demands multiple viewings. If you have not experienced this movie, do so immediately.
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Summary: "The best movie to send us to a new millenium"
Review: "American Beauty" the greatest piece of socialistic satire in the history of modern cinema. No matter what age or gender you are associated with,"American Beauty" goes for the stomach, and for me, hits the heart. Alan Ball's Golden Gobe winning script portrays two different family surburbanites gone astray,and is a great window to the rot festering in America's "ordinary" homes. The Oscar nominated performances by Kevin Spacey and Annete Bening bring the "organized choas" effect their performances have brought in the past. This film at just 2 hours, is a perfect movie to love and cherish for years to come. So see it, rent it, or as I stongly suggest- buy it. Hey, when you have nothing to lose, you might as well risk everything.
Rating:
Summary: Not just an American Beauty
Review: I cannot recall when was the last time I have seen something so brilliant. A masterpiece that touches you wherever you are.. Not just in America.. And thats why its not just an American Beauty.. This is the movie you will watch and no matter where you are on this planet, you will still be able to relate. What made this more possible is the genuis script and how it was written, the incredible way it was directed and the outstanding acting from everyone who appeared on screen even for seconds. Kevin Spacey is one hell of an actor who played a very difficult role and mastered it as if he has been living it for the past 40 years. Kevin, you were incredible. Annette Bening has managed to make everyone resents her. Doesn't this say how masterful she was? I can go on forever. Everyone in this movie has contributed significantly to the enjoyment each one of us in the movie theatre was feeling. I watched it yesterday, will watch it again today and I am sure I will go again and again. I am just sitting here waiting to see how the Acadamy will rate this movie... whether it will touch every judge's life the same way it touched the lives of all those who have seen it. Please Hollywood, indulge us more with such sensations.
Rating:
Summary: American Beauty: Elusive, and more complex than meets the ey
Review: American Beauty portrays the intense, socially- and psychologically driven conflicts, shattered hopes, dreams and destruction of a generation. A generation that saw The Graduate and went out wild and bushy-tailed will be sorely reminded of fading hopes and glory that now revive themselves even upon our aging legacy, and which must now give rise to a new generation of artists and young people. The beauty is not just a young, blonde fashion-model wannabe(Angela), full of life and in too much of a hurry to grow up, but a mysterious, darker version of youth(Jane) who deeply draws in a young, intense man with a video camera. The two are left after her father Lester's unfortunate attack, to pick up the pieces of an older generation's now-dying dreams, to reinterpret old conflicts inherent not just in the "boomers'" generation but in American society as a whole, played out by the two middle-aged fathers. The dreamer is destroyed by the confused, embittered authoritarian, but his newfound realization and hope to make something meaningful from his life is passed on to his young friend with the camera. Life goes on, and something emerges from the ashes of the old. Those who saw nothing of the sort, or rather the lack of possiblility for such, should search themselves for the answer. Art does not merely reflect life- it creates something new and shows it in a new light. The elusive beauty, Jane Burnham, inspires her friend with his camera, whose clear, insightful vision mirrors that of the director in its pure, insightful and human portrayal of some of the most complex issues of our time and place.
Rating:
Summary: This film will be on the American Film Institute's Top 100..
Review: I cannot express how great a masterpiece this film was. It's at once uplifting and emotional, visceral even, while still being a great film with great cinematography and a great script. I once took a film course at a prominent liberal arts college, and *American Beauty* is easily the equal of any of the 25 classics we explored. Now that I've used the word "great" so profusely, let me tell you why. The script and its character-driven subplots aren't stereotypical, as some have demurred; rather, the characters are believable archetypes, true to real-world people most of us have known. We can see truths in Kevin Spacey's portrayal of a man romanticizing his youth and lusting after its symbol, Mena Suvari as the cheerleader who looks like a 16-year-old wearing too much make-up in the belief that it makes her appear more mature; we can see truths in Ricky's lust for life and attempts to "capture" its essence--it's beautiful how Ricky, the quintessential outcast "crazy" and "loser," is through his understanding of death the only person in the film who understands the meaning and beauty in life. Reminds me of the poet Wallace Stevens' writings, in which "Death is the mother of beauty"--i.e., the transitoriness and ephemeral nature of everything is what gives it beauty. Ultimately, this film has a powerful philosophical voice speaking in harmony with delicious imagery of the beautiful--from Mena Suvari's supple bare adolescent breasts to the changing seasons you see in the trees, from rosepetals and flesh to the not-so-obvious beauty of a dead bird. The most striking image is perhaps the confining suburban sameness of hundreds of identical houses and streets in a grid which we see at the start of the film--but most striking is that, as the camera pans out over that same suburban sameness at the end of the journey, it kind of looks beautiful, no longer oppressive, and peaceful. Only a truly powerful film could subvert that image so completely. The acting performances were also incredibly strong, which is important because above all this film isn't about imagery as much as it's about people and their relationships. There's almost a pantheistic feeling to the film, in that happiness is found only by communing with the world around you, and loving your fellow man. I am the type of person who lets a few tears slip when I see or read something truly moving, which is seldom; certain parts of the Bible and the Tao te Ching bring a tear to the eye; Alanis Morissette as a joyful God who childishly plays in the grass in *Dogma* brings a tear to the eye; but three times, at the bag-dancing climax in the middle, at the sight of Mena Suvari almost in tears by the moonlight, and at the surprise anti-climax at the end, three times did this film affect me that much. To sum up, if this film doesn't affect you, you probably don't understand its subtexts and its truths. If it doesn't, please watch it again and try to understand what it's like to be in these positions--which are very common ones--and to see the beauty of the imagery here and the philosophy depicted. It's rather like *Eyes Wide Shut* in that you either *understand* the film viscerally, or you just can't see its truths; but *Eyes Wide Shut* is about things most people won't understand unless they're middle-aged men, while *American Beauty* is more universal in its scope.
Rating:
Summary: one of the finest
Review: i can't remember the last time i saw a movie that shook me so much. it just grabs you and reels you in...being both ugly and beautiful, hilarious and sad. after watching it (even for the second time), the ending had me shaking and crying on my ride home...this movie makes you look at life in a completely different way, and teaches you not to take a moment of it for granted...
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