American Beauty

 American Beauty 1999
Directed by Sam Mendes
Nominated for 8 Oscars, Won 5

Lester Burnham is depressed. His life is boring and ordinary, and his marriage and relationship with his only daughter is strained and almost non-existent. But then, he swoons and falls (lustily) for Jane's good friend Angela. Meanwhile, Jane is striking up a relationship with a drug dealer next door, who films everything he sees, and his wife is also looking for a way to break out of this boring life she has.

I'm just going to throw it out there now, but I didn't particularily enjoy this film. Granted, I'm not particularly enthused by the story of a 42 year old man fantasizing and lusting after a 16-18 year old girl. I'm also not into drug dealing, affairs and swearing. So this movie wasn't exactly my cup of tea.

I'm not sure if it was the fact I'm not good at watching films the whole way through on my own (which I did for this one) or if I just didn't like the film in general, but I found it went by very slowly, and wasn't all that exciting. Lester Burnham I was found very embarassing. I felt embarassed for him when he couldn't stop staring (obviously) at Angela when they first meet, or just how obvious he is about everything else about his obsession. But I guess that was the point?

What made this film sad was the attitudes of every single character in this movie. I just don't understand how someone can let their marriage fall apart, and then proceed to complain, even though they didn't even try to save it, like we see in this movie. Or how daughters complain that her father doesn't care when she isn't making any effort at all. Or how people can have affairs and be attracted to younger women and not be ashamed of themselves.

It saddens me to see how selfish every single character was in this movie. And that's just whats so wrong with America, and North America, and so many other places, today. We're selfish people, and blame others when things go wrong. And I didn't like that about the movie. They didn't realize how much they themselves were at fault and continued to blame others.

There was just too much sexual references/content, drugs, swearing, and selfishness for me to even feel sorry a single character in this film. Harsh, but true.


While I thought Thomas Newman wrote an excellent score, and Annette Benning was great, overall, this movie wasn't exactly my thing, nor did I enjoy it, though the ending was a twist, and was suspenseful. Sorry, unpopular opinion, I suppose.

Acting- 8.5/10 

Directing- 7.5/10 
Screenplay- 7/10 

Visuals- 7/10 

Music- 8.5/10 

Emotional Connection- 3/10 

Entertainment- 5/10 

Rewatchability- 4/10 

Overall Enjoyment- 5/10 

Overall Package- 6.5/10       

Total: 62/100