American Beauty (1999)
89 %
Reviews Counted: 148 Fresh: 131 Rotten:17 Average Rating: 8/10
Consensus:
Critics praise American Beauty for its wit and insight, as well as for its exceptional performances.
Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins
Synopsis: AMERICAN BEAUTY tells the story of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a suburban father who snaps when he becomes disgusted with his stale, repetitive existence. Burnham lets us know in voice-over from the film's opening that this is the day he dies (using the SUNSET BOULEVARD flashback... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari
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Reviews
It's daring in that it sympathizes with a protagonist who's a pederast though its portrait of an American family on the brink of collapse is essentially a cartoon
Comment
06/05/08
One of the most startling, brilliant pictures to come out of a major studio in many years.
02/20/08
An elusive and allusive work of art that won't be pinned down easily.
07/23/07
Recently, Happiness and Election have taken pot shots at suburban morals and ethics, but none has hit so close to the bone and so on-target as American Beauty.
07/14/07
As the latest mainstream movie symptom of our premillennial malaise, American Beauty is so brilliantly acted, written, directed and visualized that for all its despondency and despair, it is a lot of fun.
04/27/07
Top Critic
Above all, "American Beauty" is about finding peace and a sense of wonder in the least likely of places, such as your inner torment or, failing that, perhaps a floating plastic bag.
08/25/06
Brit Sam Mendes makes an impressive directorial debut with a glossy, well-acted satire of the American burbs, a theatrically stylized meditation that combines the zeitgeist of 1950s Eisnehower with that of 1990s Clinton.
07/29/06
Dark, intelligent, scandalous, emotional, and truthful -- one of the year's best.
05/26/06
Director Mendes guides an artful path between desire and self-disgust, playing youth against experience, male against female.
02/09/06
As the world changed in the past five years, so did the relevance of American Beauty.
02/16/05
A stylish film about an American family that pretends to be moral and enlightened, but revels in its mean-spirited sarcasm and its championing of self-interest.
12/06/04
Like Network in the 1970s and Ordinary People in the '80s, American Beauty is a scathing reflection of contemporary American life.
06/22/04
Filled with moments of uncommon intelligence, sensitivity, truth and wit, American Beauty is an instant American classic.
01/16/03
It is a great film and will definitely be regarded as one of the best films of the 90's ... right next to Titanic.
12/08/02
Time and again, you fear Mendes won't be able to sustain such a confident shuffling of his pack, but somehow he does, and for once the result is a genuine surprise.
12/02/02
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