Kevin Spacey

Annette Bening

Thora Birch

Wes Bentley

Mena Suvari

Peter Gallagher

Allison Janney

Chris Cooper

Scott Bakula

Sam Robards

Barry Del Sherman

Ara Celi

John Cho

Fort Atkinson

Sue Casey

Kent Faulcon

Brenda Wehle

Lisa Cloud

Alison Faulk

Krista Goodsitt

Lily Houtkin

Carolina Lancaster

Mona Leah

Chekesha Van Putten

Emily Zachary

Nancy Anderson

Reshma Gajjar

Stephanie Rizzo

Heather Joy Sher

Chelsea Hertford

Amber Smith

Joel McCrary

Marissa Jaret Winokur

Dennis Anderson

Matthew Kimbrough

Erin Cathryn Strubbe

Bruce Cohen

Elaine Corral Kendall

James Hunter

Spencer Kayden

Tom Miller

Sam Mendes

Dan Jinks

Thomas Newman

Conrad L. Hall

Christopher Greenbury

Tariq Anwar

Debra Zane

David Lazan

Julie Weiss

Maria DeVane

Suzan Wexler

Robin Richesson

Mike Higelmire

Chris Edmonds

Alan Ball

Stan Wlodkowski

Dana Brunetti

Kim Mozingo

Michael Casey

Lisa Penaranda

Naomi Shohan

Jan K. Bergstrom

Molly Click

Cat Smith

Joe Ondrejko

John C. Hartigan

Janet Yale

Jonathan F. Styrlund

Rob Hodgson

David Goldberg

Huston Beaumont

Gerald A. King

Aaron Pazanti

Geoffrey Haley

Lorey Sebastian

Clyde E. Bryan

Marcy Grace Froehlich

Hope Slepak

Alix Hester

Kanani Wolf

Bill Bernstein

Joanie Diener

Chris Douridas

Thomas Pasatieri

Ana Maria Quintana

Deborah Ricketts

Paula Abdul

Jeffrey Wilhoit

Bryan Bowen

Alan Rankin

Bob Beemer

Scott Millan

Scott Martin Gershin

Cydney Cornell

Patricia DeHaney

Carol A. O'Connell

Tania McComas

Julie Hewett

Larry Madaras

Tracey Wadmore-Smith

Cristen Carr Strubbe

Lisa Dennis

Tony Adler

Phil Culotta

Ben Scott

Pete Townshend

Nicole Kidman

Jackie Gonneau

Ross Dunkerley

Rosemary C. Cremona

David Linck

Richard W. Jones

Chris Samp

Andrea Dopaso

Christian Zimmermann

Dana Kroeger

Bill Young

Ian Kay

Krissy Korn

Jeff Couch

Kevin Du Toit

Jim Turner

René González

Rob Garlow

Lynda Reiss

Mike Piccirillo

Holiday Freeman

Randy Lovelady

A. Welch Lambeth

Matt Magnolia

Phil Hetos

Jeffrey Skinner

Christine Bonnem

Janet Lonsdale

Trevor Jolly

Carl Fischer

Thomas O'Neil Younkman

Richard Van Dyke

Drama

American Beauty

DreamWorks Pictures

Jinks/Cohen Company

United States of America

English

estate agent

adultery

coming out

first time

virgin

cheating

parent child relationship

age difference

midlife crisis

cheerleader

dark comedy

rose

satire

dysfunctional family

suburbia

coming of age

sexual fantasy

dysfunctional marriage

marijuana

loneliness

love affair

exercise

extramarital affair

realtor

quitting a job

voyeur

neighborhood

retired army man

closeted homosexual

singing in a car

gay theme

existential

teenager

camcorder

The film American Beauty to me is a film about purpose. What is your purpose in life? The film teaches that there is such great beauty in the small things in life and that sometimes you need to take a step back to allow yourself to take in the unfiltered beauty in the small things like a plastic bag dancing in the wind, playing with the leaves. The film tells it's audience that the beauty in the small details is much greater than society's typical image of beauty. The prominent rose in the film is a symbol of false, surface beauty; the expensive and romantic flower is amongst almost every single shot in the film reminding us that we need to look beyond the surface beauty of an entity and see the beauty within. This message surrounding beauty is empathised with the inclusion of the rose on the films poster and the tagline, 'look closer' indicating that to see real beauty one must 'look closer', a task that typically requires more thoughtfulness and less immediate facial value judgements that make up the typical image of beauty.

I first saw this film in my teen years. I didn't understand the plot of the movie back then but found the erotic scenes interesting. I think I was also impressed by Lesters change in attitude back then. 
Rewatching it in my early thirties the movie really catches me. The story of every character is catching, because everyone is struggling with different ordinary problems, some of them probably known by every adult. 

* Lester is fighting with his midlifecrisis and wants to break the devils-wheel of his boring everyday life. He also hates his job and the responsibility he has to carry because of it. 
* His wife Annette is frustrated by her job, because she isn't as successful as she wants to be. To bring more joy in her life she starts an affair with another (more successful) real estate salesman.
* Their daughter Jane has a lack of self-confidence. She wants to be more like her more attention-getting friend Angela. 
* The neighbor Colonel Frank is militant, conservative and wants to give his values to his son. As he thinks his son is gay, he thinks it is his failure because of himself feeling attracted by men.
* The neighbors son Ricky is a survivor. He tries to mimic to be a good son to his dad to stay out of trouble with him. Because he wants the newest technology (TVs, Camcorders, etc.) he is dealing with drugs.
* Angela lies that she is sleeping with a lot of boys just to feel more self-confident when her friends geht jealous. She wants to become a model and tries to avoid to be ordinary in any way.

Andre Gonzales

It was a ok movie. I didn't like Kevin Spacey creeping on a young teenager, but other then that it was a good movie.

American Beauty( 1999)

Look closer.

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A review by tmdb70752507

Written by tmdb70752507 on Wed Apr 08 2020

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