American Beauty
OVERALL:
ASPECT RATIO(S)
16x9 Widescreen (2.35:1)
SOUND MIX
FEATURES
STUDIO
RECOMMENDATION
Dolby Digital 5.1
DTS 5.1
- Audio Commentary with Sam ��Mendes and Alan Ball
- Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
- Storyboard Presentation with ��Commentary by Sam Mendes ��and Conrad L. Hall
- Cast & Crew Bios
- 2 Theatrical Trailers
- Production Notes
DreamWorks
Buy it!
GRADING SCALE
Film
Features 
Audio
Video
The movie is more complex than a TV show, but as a whole, it's about nothing. The trailer suggests that the entire movie is about Kevin Spacey's mid-life crisis. That is only a small part of the film. The movie doesn't just focus on Spacey, but the entire cast. Each of the main cast members has their own little TV series. Kevin Spacey is Seinfeld in this movie. Everything revolves around him. He doesn't have any special features; he's just a regular guy in life who is breaking down.
AMERICAN BEAUTY is funny at times, but can be downright depressing. It has several mood changes and can't decide on one. That's good, it makes the audience adjust to its mood. The best parts of the movie are when Spacey, his wife (Annette Bening) and their daughter (Thora Birch) are at the dinner table. The picture looks like the average American family. Whereas the daughter thinks her parents are freaks and the parents do nothing but babble about their job and life.
This is one of the best movies of the year. AMERICAN BEAUTY gets great performances from the entire cast. The standouts are Spacey and Bening. The movie's most intriguing character is Wes Bentley, the new kid next door that supplies Spacey with pot. He may be the only symbolic character in the entire picture.
Features
I'll first admit that I love the fact that both DD and DTS tracks are available. But I must say I thought the extras to be a bit light. Is this the dvd version that took over a year to get here? We get a talkative commentary, which is insightful. But the rest of the features are meaningless. I could care less about storyboards and that featurette is 100% fluff. There are more scenes from the movie included than there are interviews. We'll never get to see that alternate ending. Bummer.
Audio
Both tracks, as mentioned above, are included. But it hardly seems that important as this is an extremely talky film. Bass is pretty quiet as it should be and the surrounds are only occasionally used. This isn't to say the sound is bad, it's excellent, for this type of film.
Video
This film has alot going on in it and what better way to see it than a 16x9 widescreen transfer. Lots of imaging in this film and it's capturedly nicely for home viewing. Red is the color in this film and it is very strong. The rose petals almost seem to be falling out of the tv. Blacks are deep, with no loss of detail. This is definitely the dvd's strong point.
Overall
How can you not buy the Best Picture of 1999? This may not live up to an "Awards Edition" (whatever that is), but it still has a few decent features. The commentary and the great picture is enough to put this on the recommendation list.