American Beauty stars Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham, a man who to say is going through a mid-life crisis is putting it mildly. He goes through the motions at his dull, dead end advertising job. His daughter Janie (Thora Birch) can't stand him, and both he and his wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) seem to be stuck in a loveless marriage. The real beauty of this film, more specifically the story itself, is that it's not so easily interpreted. Some have stated it's a satire on the typical suburban American family and the arguments for it are obviously there. What I've taken from the film is that no matter how meaningless and confined (there are some extremely creative shots depicting Lester in this manner too) your life may seem to you, there's always beauty to be found even if in the little things. Lester states it best at the end, "For me, it was
lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars... And yellow
leaves, from the maple trees, that lined our street... Or my
grandmother's hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper... And the
first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new Firebird... And Janie... And
Janie... And... Carolyn..."
With an excellent cast that, along with Kevin Spacey, includes Annette Bening (Who should've won Best Actress that year), Thora Birch, Allison Janney, Peter Gallagher, Mena Suvari, Wes Bentley, and Chris Cooper, along with some visually stylish direction from Sam Mendes (This was just his first feature length film too), and an emotionally satisfying final ten minutes (I'll avoid spoilers for those who haven't seen it), American Beauty is a must see, and like me, you may find yourself spotting a new meaning with each view, but as the film's tagline says, "... look closer."
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