AMERICAN BEAUTY

1999 ***** 121 mins.

This Academy Award-winning Best Picture scores on all accounts.

At first, this may seem just like another dysfuctional family type of film. However, Academy Award-winners Alan Ball (Best Original Screenplay) and Sam Mendes (Best Director) challenge the viewer to ". . . look closer." That theme, which prevails throughout the entire film, creates a marvellous work of art that is hard to beat.

Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham, who, in the opening narration, says that he will be dead by the end of the film. He is married to Carolyn (Annette Bening). Their marriage is a very rocky one, of course, and their daughter, Jane (Thora Birch) is a typical teenager, very unsure of herself. Lester falls in love with Jane's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari), who develops the hots for Lester. Carolyn cheats on Lester with a man named Buddy (Peter Gallagher). Meanwhile, a new family has moved in next door. The father (Chris Cooper) is an ex-Marine who is rock-solid on how life should be. His son (Wes Bentley) is not of that mind, though. He falls in love with Jane and deals drugs to Lester.

Remember that no matter how hokey this description may seem, you must ". . . look closer."
Number 6 on KRSJR Productions' 25 Greatest Motion Pictures of All Time.
Rated R for language, strong sexual content, nudity, violence, and drug use.