Rating: 

The Info

Directed by: Sam Mendes
Written by: Alan Ball
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Peter Gallagher, Chris Cooper
Produced by: Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks

The Nutshell

A suburban family goes through some changes when a new family move in next door.

The Review

    American Beauty is the first film of the year to generate "Oscar buzz". Already countless critics have lined up to sing the film's praises, and Stephen Spielberg announced that the script was a masterpiece, saying that not one word should be changed. Of course, Mr. Spielberg happens to be part owner of  Dreamworks, the company that distributed the film. Is it truly a masterpiece? No. Does the film deserve all of this adulation? Probably. It is original, emotionally stirring and painfully funny.

    The plot revolves around two families, the Burnhams and the Fittses. Lester Burnham (Spacey) is a typical, boring office worker who is tired of his job and monotonous life. Wife Carolyn (Bening), a real-estate saleswoman, and daughter Jane (Birch) have problems of their own; the first is obsessed with perfection and success, and the second is self-conscious about the way she looks.  The Fittses move in next door and consist of Colonel Fitts (Cooper), a hard-edged Nazi-enthusiast, his wife Barbara and their son Ricky (Bentley), who likes to put everything he sees on film. By the film's climax, these two families find themselves in emotional states very different from where they began.

    Above, I called American Beauty emotionally stirring. This is a phrase that is over-used in film criticism, and whose meaning is re-established by director Sam Mendes. The film moves you. Much like Schindler's List, this is a film that makes you think about life, about the way you live and the way you treat others. Some of the various crises are unfolded in a light-hearted manner which masks the underlying tragedy. This helps to break the story to you softly. Some films, such as The Ice Storm, place the tragedy up front, so that it presses down on your psyche. You leave such films feeling depressed and the impact of the film isn't fully felt because of it. Not so American Beauty; while there is undoubtedly some tragedy in the true sense of the word, you leave the theatre feeling moved, but not devastated: a reverse James Bond drink perhaps - stirred but not shaken.

    Alan Ball's script is certainly intelligently written, Mr. Spielberg was right about that. It might actually be too intelligent; there are several instances where characters say things that no one would ever say. I'd give an example, but these sentences contain so many four-syllable words and hard-to-say phrases that to copy any down was impossible. Carolyn Burnham in particular is given many over the top cinematic moments that constantly threaten to pull the film's delicate balance down. Kevin Spacey is technically the lead, though no one character is truly greater than any other. His Lester is the narrator, a plot device that is wholly unneeded and distracting here. In fact, the narration gives away something that happens later in the film, which removes that moment's future impact; it turns into a plot device, something that the viewer is then waiting for.

    American Beauty is another dark comedy in a growing line of them in 1999. Past films such as Drop Dead Gorgeous and Election were funny and worth seeing, but are only distractions. American Beauty speaks to you about life, and where you are going in yours. The scenes at Lester's work may be near replicas of scenes from Office Space, but where the latter's merely made me laugh, the former's made me laugh and think about my own job. The Burnham's family troubles not only moved me, but made me re-examine the way I communicate and live with my wife. This is the beauty of American Beauty, the one thing that allows the films to not get pulled down by its flaws. This is no cinematic masterpiece, but it is a film you should see; it will move you and make you think about life.
 
 

Copyright - Tim Chandler

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