American Beauty

American Beauty is a very strange movie. It was recommended by my friend. He gave me a pile of movies about a year ago and I think that I have gotten to maybe one other one than American Beauty. It was Blow, and it was about a year ago. But American Beauty, he swore by. 

I have no finally gotten to this film and... well...

American Beauty is a film that came out in 1999 that follows the story of Lester Burnham (played by

Kevin Spacey. He's a loser, his wife despises him, his daughter despises him and the weird thing is, its not exactly warranted. We're introduced to these characters and immediately they hate each other. Yeah Burnham isn't exactly the most conscience person, he could probably pay more attention to his wife and daughter but nothing really says that he's a bad person... yet. His wife (played by Annette Benning) is a real estate agent who is very materialistic. At the beginning of the film she begins an infatuation with a rival real estate agent... that'll come in later.

Their daughter (played by Thora Birch) is your typical 90s angsty teenager. Nobody understands her, she's unsatisfied with her body. And she really has some bitchy friends. The nucleus of all the conflict in this film really comes from her friend Angela (played by Mena Suvari). The first time Lester sees her, he becomes infatuated with her and just wants to get with her. Basically his quest to sleep with his daughter's friend sends him on a crash course of a midlife crisis where he quits his job, starts working out, starts buying weed from the creepy stalker kid next door (played by Wes Bentley, or that guy from the Hunger Games), and just goes off the deep end. 

All the while you've got his wife having an affair with the rival real estate agent, Wes Bentley getting abused by his marine father (played by Chris Cooper) and just a lot of shit that lies underneath the illusion that this middle class family has everything perfect. 

To start off, I understand why this movie is popular. I understand why it was highly praised by critics,

I understand the artistic vision taken with this film, I understand the themes and arcs that take place in this movie.

What I don't understand however is how people can think this was the best movie of 1999. I was 7 at the time and honestly the best thing I remember from 1999 was Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, so I know I was no consosiuer of film at that age, but the best film of 1999? Winner of Best Picture, Best Actor AND Best Director (and others)?!?!

What the hell?

This movie was given five Oscars for being American Psycho meets Office Space. Cause that's essentially what this movie is. I mean I know this movie came out the same year if not before both those films, but was that the missing part of the recipe for American Psycho? Add just a splash of Office Space and a sexy teenager that Christian Bale could creep on?

I have to give the movie credit for its very apparent symbolism and its ability to make you wonder, what could this symbolize and what could this mean. But I think it gets to a point where the movie stops being deep and starts being pretentious.

I'm talking of course, about the bag scene. You've got this kid who lives across the street who falls in love with Spacey's daughter and he spent a long time in a mental hospital. So of course, Thora Birch finds that deep. His thing is that he really likes film and finds art in it. So much that he filmed a bag floating in the wind. 

AND THIS IS THE MOST INSPIRING THING HE HAS EVER SEEN IN THE HISTORY OF EVER!

I don't mean to be a dick, I know art is totally subjective, but what the hell is this?

Its scenes like this that kind of make me grown and say, Okay, okay, we get it, you're trying to make a point. The movie stops being subtle and instead becomes incredibly pretentious. There's symbolism that is up for interpretation, like the roses everywhere, or the color red. What could it mean? Who knows, thats really up to what you pull out of the movie. These are things that happen in the background and don't take away from the film. But when we spend an entire five minutes on watching a bag float in the wind, suddenly I feel like my time is being wasted. 

The other part of the movie that kind of bothered me was the fact that we all knew Kevin Spacey was going to die at the end. Telling you who kills him would be the spoiler but the fact that he dies is not a spoiler as he says, I'm going to die at the beginning. The movie wants to make you think its going to be one direct person who kills him and then it kind of switches that up and makes it a who dunnit kind of out of no where and the person who killed him really was not my choice as to who would have killed him and who it would have made sense, but hey, I'm not the writer. 

What I did really like about this movie was the ending. 

Honestly, there's a point in the movie where Kevin Spacey has been working tirelessly to become a better person. He's quit his mundane job, he's been working out, he's happy, he's free from the social constrains of the suburban lifestyle (bleh puke) and he's about to get everything he wants.

And then there's a moment where he snaps out of it. Its almost like a curse had been over him this entire time of his midlife crisis and suddenly someone who's not a douchebag appears. That scene was done very well and actually kind of made me like this asshole a little bit.

The last interaction with Spacey and his daughters friend is very, very good.

However, its a very strange transition because honestly, Spacey's awakening is a character we've honestly never met before.

Everyone is a total asshole in this movie. Say its all about the symbolism, say its all about the themes, or that this movie is more of a satire. Whatever, my point is, I don't like any of these characters. They're all kind of assholes. So its kind of hard to enjoy their transitions, their development if they're all satire, or in other words, the movie is too pretentious for its own good.

There are a lot of good messages, themes, whatever you wanna call them in American Beauty. But there's not really that great of characters. The movie, to me, just seems like it loves the smells of its own farts and it doesn't really spell out a perfect movie to me.

Again, I can see how this movie is good. Its a very smart movie and the direction of it was actually really good. However, when actual storytelling is sacrificed for beat you over the head messages, I just kind of lose interest. I do think American Beauty is a good film, I just don't think its a great film. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and see it just to be on the in of something. But go into it with an open mind. Forget all the accolades, forget the critical praise, even forget this review and just enjoy a well directed movie and a pretty good performance by Spacey.

Those are my thoughts on American Beauty. What did you think? Comment and Discuss below, especially if you watch it with a clear mind and have an unbiased opinion on it. I would like to hear the big appeal of this movie. Shoot me a tweet @cmhaugen24 and follow me on Twitter to get updates on movie news and reviews.

I'll leave you with this. Family Guy just gets me sometimes. Enjoy! (sorry about the quality)