American Beauty (1999)

reviewed by
Brandon Herring


Rating: An undescribable * * * *

Rated R: strong sexuality, nudity, language, drug use, violence.

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Mena Suvari, Wes Bentley, Thora Birch.

Directed by: Sam Mendes

In the history of movies, some really good movies have come out. They have been memorable in our minds, and make us think about them even to this day. They can be 100 years old, to only a year old and still be a great film. Sometimes they are so good it is hard to explain to someone how good it really is. Out of the 1,000s of films I've seen, only one has impacted my life so much that to this very day I still think about the movie. It's incredible how a film of this standard can sweep the Oscars and audiences alike, and be one of the best reviewed films of all time with the critics. This movie is that one certain movie, a movie that I saw in theatres close to twenty times, but never got tired of the movie, and everytime I viewed it, found something new and beautiful.

Kevin Spacey plays an unhappily wed man Lester Burham, married to Annette Bening who plays Carolyn, who is unhappy as well, but hides her feelings underneath where they bottle up inside of her, ready to pop. Their marriage is extremely unhappy and close to falling apart. Thora Birch brilliantly plays their daughter Janie Burnhan who has troubles of her own, she thinks she isn't pretty and wants new boobs, only to realize that she is beautiful in someones eyes. Her neighbor Ricky Fritts (played amazingly by newcomer Wes Bentley) who uses his video camera to tape the world as he sees it through his eyes, everything has its own beauty in its own way. Mena Suvari impacts the screen as Janie's best friend Angela, whom Lester falls for and starts to work out, and becomes more rebelous. His life is falling apart, as is the world around him, coming to a shocking and deeply emotional, yet oddly compelling and satisfying ending. Kevin Spacey won an oscar for his portrayal of Lester Burnham, a depressed deeply complex man who wasn't given enough time to do what he wanted to do, but what he did was amazing. Kevin takes the character and turns him into a real person, instead of a movie character, he knows what he is doing and makes us laugh, think and cry at the same time. Annette Being is one of my favorite actresses and she does not let me down here, she takes her character and like Spacey turns her into a real person so we feel for her but at the same time we hate her in some scenes. She is a character that has her perks and her downs. In one of the best teen performances to lighten the screen in a long time Thora Birch is absolutely magical as the daughter of this disfuctional family. She is so realistic to today's teens and so compelling that I feel she is almost a lead character in the movie as is Mena Suvari who plays Angela, she does a wonderful job as well. Wes Bentley stands out as the next door neighbor boy who sees beautiful things in his own way. Absolutely magical acting.

The script is a whole other story combined, this is one brilliant screenplay. Alan Ball who wrote this screenplay is to me a brilliant, very smart man who has a mind that no one can read or understand. He is very complex and it shows in his script, it makes you think while it makes you cry because of how beautiful it is, the dialogue comes out of the performers lips so smoothly, and they seem to be associating with it, possibly even relating. The audience (or at least I was) is in such awe of how amazing this movie is, that we almost become a character ourselves. We see through each of the persons eyes, and we see how they see, what they see and how what they are seeing affects them.

Sam Mendes makes his directing debut, and I must say I was really surprised by how good of a job he did on his directing, his camera shots are just plain out brilliant. Some of the shots especially towards the end are emotionally affecting towards me, and I found myself sitting there with my mouth wide open absorbed into this movie. The twists and turns in the story, the performances from the actors and actresses, the script that is so good it is unbelievable. I tried to find a flaw in this movie, but there was no flaw at all. Each and every scene is beautiful and amazing in its own way, never has a film made me cry at the end because of how beautiful it is.

To me it's safe to say, although your not supposed to as a movie critic, but I can say American Beauty ranks up there as my favorite movie I have seen. Besides Halloween, American Beauty is my favorite movie. Some people have all time favorites and plenty of them, and believe me I have many favorites, but this one I can safely say is my favorite one.

Reviewed by Brandon Herring 2-27-00

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