American Beauty poster & wallpaper

Allison Janney, Amber Smith, Annette Bening

A biting, penetrating and often humorous take on contemporary life in suburban America, Lester Burnham becomes intrigued by a young girl named Angela, and this fascination sparks him to make some majo...( read more  read more... )r changes in his life. He relishes these changes, much to the exasperation of his wife Carolyn.

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90% liked it

572,226 ratings

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89% liked it

148 critics

R, 1 hr. 58 min.

Directed by: Sam Mendes

Release Date: September 15, 1999

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DVD Release Date: January 2, 2002

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Flixster Reviews (34,068)

  • SilentScreamer
    October 24, 2009
    SilentScreamer
    Honestly didnt care for it. It was weird and dark and twisted. not my cup of tea.
  • FangsFirst
    October 12, 2009
    FangsFirst
    I've seen seven Best Picture winners in theatres before they actually won, but this is the one that was at a point where I was starting pay attention to movies yet still didn't care, worry or know enough about the politics of them to wonder or debate whether they might become Bes...( read more)t Picture winners. I just thought it was a movie and my family was going to see it, and I knew my artsier friends were enjoying it, but that was about all. My sister was a big fan of Kevin Spacey, for his earlier work. Like many, it sort of curbed her interest a bit by placing him in a starring role. That never particularly bothered me, never felt he was overexposed, but occasionally thought he might be doing a bit like De Niro and taking on some less than necessary (or even uninteresting) films after this. One wonders why actors seem to do this AFTER big works--shouldn't they have just gotten some bills paid? Still, that's a sidenote to the film itself.

    The Burnhams are a pretty strictly familiar suburban upper-middle class (maybe upper-upper) family, Lester (Spacey) entering a mid-life crisis, Carolyn (Annette Bening) failing to cope with this or her own crisis, and mildly rebellious daughter Jane (Thora Birch) revelling in the role of 'outsider' in school, while hoping just a bit to find some companionship outside of it, or even within it. Her closest friend is, somewhat mysteriously, the promiscuous fellow cheerleader Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari). Moving in next door are the Fitts, Colonel Frank, USMC (Chris Cooper), Barbara (Allison Janey) and Ricky (Wes Bentley). Jane's first run-in is with Ricky, who she finds videotaping her form his porch, openly, shamelessly, but without any note of threat. Ricky himself is estranged from his family, his mother lost in her own mind and his father fighting to control his son, who has been involved in drugs and, his father suspects anyway, homosexuality. Lester tries to burn through his own life, his worthless job and his failed marriage, while trying to engage in the fantasy of seducing his daughter's friend Angela. Carolyn attempts to escape by bonding with her real estate competitor Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher). Jane attempts to deal with her collapsing parents while being drawn to the danger and mystery of Ricky.

    There's a note, as many films suffer after receiving acclaim, of sour grapes from many people regarding this film--or at least a feeling of contrarian opposition to its acclaim and awards. "Overrated" is thrown at it pretty regularly, with a sneer and typically an accompanying sense of accomplished superiority. Of course, one cannot become superior by anything simply by saying it isn't as good as OTHER people think, or simply that it "sucks." Interestingly the film this reminds me of most (albeit backward considering the timeline along which I saw them) is Ordinary People, which is amusingly appropriate both because it is reviled as winner of the Best Picture Oscar in 1980 (mostly because it beat out Raging Bull) and because apparently American Beauty's first-time director Sam Mendes looked back at that very film for inspiration. Both deal with a level of socioeconomic living that many of us do not experience--somewhat above our own without falling into the absurdly incomprehensible fantasy of the ultra-rich--and the problems that plague the people in it, which differ somewhat little from those the rest of us know.

    Once, while watching Donnie Darko, I experienced a rather common reaction to films like this: "But they have money, they can't have problems!" someone exclaimed at that one. I was struck by the absolute absurdity of this idea, but was left pondering the difference. Certainly if we start looking comparatively, any of us (especially anyone who can read a movie review posted only on the internet, or able to read one at all for that matter) can find someone in a worse position than ourselves. Problems are not intrinsically valued or valueless, as dealing with them on a universal scale is inherently absurd. There's no way to suggest that Lester's dissatisfaction with the dishonest approach of everyone in his life is unimportant, because it is important to Lester. Few--if any--can will away problems that are emotionally affecting, and so they become important at least in the context of the person having them and those around him or her. There's a smart approach to this in American Beauty, as there is in the entirety of Alan Ball's approach to the script: characters are all born from existing stereotypes, but all twist and contort them without being flagrant contradictions or sardonic inversions. A dis-satisfied suburban father in a useless job becomes a man seeking youth earnestly and in unusual ways, some expected, some not, and finding it in a place he, himself, would never have suspected. A shrew-like mother who holds her problems over her family but secretly holds this shield of frustration over deep insecurities and depression, who is trying to re-assemble her life and reclaim her role as mother but simply doesn't understand it because she has no concept of herself. An outsider daughter who fits naturally into the role of cheerleader--somehow!--and yet lacks promiscuity, all while secretly planning breast augmentation to attract more male attention, and boost her own self esteem.

    The film is not an amazing revelation in thematic terms, though it does have an appropriately post-modern outlook on these same themes and ideas. It has a hint of the dark and a twist of the sarcastic without being overly "hip" or pretentious (though those who are happily embraced it on release). Mendes' direction and the fantasies hiding in the film, specifically Lester's fantasies about Angela, are fascinatingly creative, neither arthouse abstraction nor clumsily obvious symbolism. Thomas Newman's accompanying score for these scenes is fantastically mischievous, recognizing the problematic nature of them, but reminding the audience that this is only fantasy--though not some members, who still oversimplify the film to decry it as being about a "sick, deranged pedophile." His score is hauntingly bittersweet, plucking the right aching heartstrings when witnessing things from the outside, as Ricky often does through the lens of his camera when watching his neighbors interact. The moment where he tapes a silent conversation between Lester and Jane through their kitchen window to only Newman's sweet, sad music captures perfectly the dichotomy between the intense emotional response of the Burnhams themselves and the invisibility of those problems to anyone from the outside who isn't paying attention as most don't.

    This is not an overrated film, really. Those who suggest as much either have very specific tastes (which is fine!) or are simply trying to prove their worth by degrading something recognized somewhat widely as being a quality release (which is not so fine). Alan Ball easily proved this was no fluke by going on to make Six Feet Under, while Mendes went on to direct solidly visual and engaging films like Jarhead.
  • SirPant
    September 25, 2009
    SirPant
    Very overrated and quite insulting really. The scene with the plastic bag floating in the wind for ages was arrogant and stupid.
  • Galeocerdo
    August 15, 2009
    Galeocerdo
    The film is a modern classic that reflects American society, all the hypocrisy and contradictions of its values and the people whose lives they define, and the struggle of truth and life and art to be free of them. Great performances, visual motifs and a haunting score give the f...( read more)ilm a unique aesthetic well-suited to its melancholy story, but the film suffuses its potentially heady melodrama with an unusual comic liveliness that keeps it from being morbid or inert. The cumulative effect is pleasant and somewhat haunting, and the subtext goes deep.
  • stopitgoaway
    July 21, 2009
    stopitgoaway
    I think that it's safe to say that American Beauty and M. Night Shyamalan's supernatural-thriller The Sixth Sense were definity the sleeper hits of 1999.

    Here Kevin Spacey shows the amazing form that he's been showing for the last ten years, in films like The Life of David Gale,...( read more) K-PAX, Pay it Forward, L.A. Conifedencial and Swimming With Sharks. It's also funny that this is called an American Classic when the director, Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition), is in fact English.

    Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a loser who hates his wife (Annette Benning- The Grifters, Mars Attacks) and whose daughter (Thora Birch- Patriot Games, Ghost World) hates him, whose life changes when he black mails his boss, falls for his daughters best friend (Mena Suvari- Atomic Train, American Pie 1 & 2, The Musketeer) and is introduced to the world of drugs by his neighbour (Wes Bentley-Ghost rider).

    I know wrote in a previous review that I see "To End All Wars as better film-making triumph" and I still stand by that, but you just can't help but to be drawn in to this wonderful movie by the amazing Academy Award winning combination of Alan Ball's screenplay, Mendes's direction and Spacey performance.
  • Arianeta
    November 19, 2009
    Arianeta
    "DON'T BRINK ME DOWN" is the seventh track on Neil Young's album After the Gold Rush. It was written by Young Annie Lennox covered the song on her 1995 Medusa album; her version also appeared in the movie American Beauty (1999), although it wasn't included on the film's soundtrac...( read more)k album.
  • ythelastman89
    November 18, 2009
    ythelastman89
    It's undoubtedly a great movie. It says a lot about who we are as humans. However, it's just a little to clean. It never takes that next step into storytelling. The characters all reach this pinnacle in their development, but fail to go anywhere. The message is great, but I think...( read more) they should've pushed the limit a little more. I guess I'm just complaining to complain here. I think the acting was great and everyone was completely believable.
  • vieirajoseph
    November 17, 2009
    vieirajoseph
    Classic Academy Award winning film, I was blown away by the power of this story
  • PrincessKiki22
    November 15, 2009
    PrincessKiki22
    loved everything about this movie
  • theloneowl
    November 14, 2009
    theloneowl
    Uno dei film della categoria "Film che so a memoria", l'avrò visto un milione di volte, non stanca mai, e trasmette sempre la solita piacevole tristezza.

View All American Beauty Reviews

Critic Reviews

May 22, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The kind of artful defiance that Hollywood is usually too timid to deliver: a jolting comedy that makes you laugh till it hurts. full review

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

American Beauty is a comedy because we laugh at the absurdity of the hero's problems. And a tragedy because we can identify with his failure. full review

View more American Beauty reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • kanokaan
    March 16, 2009
    kanokaan
    i usually dont like censors:)but that rose thing was really good.
  • kanokaan
    March 15, 2009
    kanokaan
    u must watch its first parts as a comedy and last parts as a drama.so u can really enjoy it.
  • soadrocks125
    October 17, 2008
    soadrocks125
    I love the use of roses and the color red.
    What a beautiful film...
  • ActionFan
    March 18, 2008
    ActionFan
    Anyone else having trouble adding this film to any list they've created?
  • signofthezodiac4
    October 6, 2007
    signofthezodiac4
    I brought this movie along time ago but never seen it till now lol.
  • Waldheri
    August 19, 2007
    Waldheri
    No doubtedly one of the best modern movies, and my absolute favourite so far. American Beauty casts light on various aspects and is very daring, which I applaud. It was magical the first time I watched it. Nothing but praise for this movie from me!
  • nbhatti3000
    July 2, 2007
    nbhatti3000
    it is very different from our culture. you can't watch with family.
  • PinkBohemianSweetie
    June 18, 2007
    PinkBohemianSweetie
    "I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday." Ang ganda! ^*^
  • OhKAY182
    March 18, 2007
    OhKAY182
    I feel so bad. I missed the last 30 minutes of this...can someone fill me in??????? please!!! I listened to it, but didn't understand what happended.
  • r3gorman
    February 17, 2007
    r3gorman
    ace film first time i watched this film i ended up getin some g13 seeds and growin them had me a gd few months of just smileing even when the police found my othere plants in my shed lol but that was then i dont do it anymore and feel beeter for it ,
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American Beauty Trivia

  • Thora Birch was only 17 when she filmed her brief nude scene in American Beauty, so permission from her parents was required.  Answer »
  • Which actor played in the Negotiator, American Beauty and the usual suspects?  Answer »
  • Which actor was in all of the following movies: American Beauty, Usual Suspects, A Bug's Life & Hurlyburly?  Answer »
  • What average everyday object is seen blowing in the wind in "American Beauty"?  Answer »
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