rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1999
Directed by Sam Mendes; produced by Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks; written by Alan Ball
Starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper, Mena Suvari, Peter Gallagher, Allison Janney, Scott Bakula
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'American Beauty' looks beautiful in every single way. Where do I begin?
With the wonderful plot that hits the perfect note on every level. Lester
Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is married to Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening). He
gets exhausted just by looking at her, he explains. His daughter is Jane
(Thora Birch), your typical insecure teenager. Her friend is Angela (Mena
Suvari) and when Lester sees her he gets obsessed with her.
We also meet the neighbors. A gay couple on one side and a family just moved
in on the other side. We meet Ricky Fits (Wes Bentley) who goes to the same
school as Jane and Angela. He films everything he thinks is beautiful,
including a plastic bag and Jane. Ricky's father is Col. Frank Fits (Chris
Cooper) and his mother Barbara (Allison Janney) is mentally not alright.
Lester feels imprisoned in his own life and with the arrival of Angela, and
Ricky who gets in relationship with his daughter, he finds a way to free
himself. He quits his job and blackmails his boss to give him 60.000
dollars. In the meanwhile Carolyn has started an affair with Buddy Kane
(Peter Gallagher). To tell you more could spoil some things so I will not do
that.
Kevin Spacey, a wonderful actor, is perfect as Lester. His narration, the
way he sets himself free and especially his final scenes are simply
brilliant. Annette Bening is annoying, the way her character should be, and
Thora Birch and Wes Bentley know how to portray the teenagers they are. The
supporting characters are well cast, especially Chris Cooper is fantastic.
That brings us to the cinematography. Every shot is beautiful in its own
way. That together with a great direction and the fantastic score of Thomas
Newman creates the perfect atmosphere throughout the movie. This one of the
best movie from the nineties, don't miss it.