FBMR - American Beauty

This movie is brilliant. I loved it from beginning to end. There's almost nothing that I dislike about it. The script is really well crafted, it's superbly directed, and the performances are fantastic. Kevin Spacey plays a lonely husband going through a mid-life crisis, while throwing caution to the wind, perfectly. Annette Bening as the basket-case wife shines as well. She doesn't understand her husband's pain. The next-door neighbour played by Wes Bentley is also a stand-out who never seems to be without his video camera. But by far, the best performance goes to Chris Cooper, the former-military father of Wes Bentley's character. He plays the hard-nosed military man excellently.

There's also something for everyone's taste. This movie is funny, disturbing, uplifting, suspenseful, horrific, and depressing. The story is about a dysfunctional suburban family; you name the dysfunction, they've got it. No one seems to understand the problems of the others. They all want to be happy, but can't seem to make the others in the family happy at the same time.

The Acamedy rightfully acknowledged this film as Best Picture, Director (Sam Mendes), Screenplay (Alan Ball), and Actor (Spacey), to name a few. This is very high on my recommendation list.


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AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999) **** This movie is brilliant. I loved it from beginning to end. There's almost nothing that I dislike about it. The script is really well crafted, it's superbly directed, and the performances are fantastic. Kevin Spacey plays a lonely husband going through a mid-life crisis, while throwing caution to the wind, perfectly. Annette Bening as the basket-case wife shines as well. She doesn't understand her husband's pain. The next-door neighbour played by Wes Bentley is also a stand-out who never seems to be without his video camera. But by far, the best performance goes to Chris Cooper, the former-military father of Wes Bentley's character. He plays the hard-nosed military man excellently. There's also something for everyone's taste. This movie is funny, disturbing, uplifting, suspenseful, horrific, and depressing. The story is about a dysfunctional suburban family; you name the dysfunction, they've got it. No one seems to understand the problems of the others. They all want to be happy, but can't seem to make the others in the family happy at the same time. The Acamedy rightfully acknowledged this film as Best Picture, Director (Sam Mendes), Screenplay (Alan Ball), and Actor (Spacey), to name a few. This is very high on my recommendation list.