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American Beauty (1999)

tomatometer

88

Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 152
Fresh: 134 | Rotten: 18

Flawlessly cast and brimming with dark, acid wit, American Beauty is a smart, provocative high point of late '90s mainstream Hollywood film.

91

Average Rating: 7.8/10
Critic Reviews: 32
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 3

Flawlessly cast and brimming with dark, acid wit, American Beauty is a smart, provocative high point of late '90s mainstream Hollywood film.

audience

90

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 572,226

My Rating

Movie Info

Noted theater director Sam Mendes, who was responsible for the acclaimed 1998 revival of Cabaret and Nicole Kidman's turn in The Blue Room, made his motion picture debut with this film about the dark side of an American family, and about the nature and price of beauty in a culture obsessed with outward appearances. Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham, a man in his mid-40s going through an intense midlife crisis; he's grown cynical and is convinced that he has no reason to go on. Lester's

R, 2 hr.

Drama, Comedy

Alan Ball

Jan 2, 2002

Dream Works

Cast

All Critics (152) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (141) | Rotten (18) | DVD (39)

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.

April 27, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comments (2)
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A great, tremendously entertaining experience. I only wish there were more films this satisfying.

June 18, 2002 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is definitely a knife-to-the-heart movie -- the kind whose potent effect is easy to feel yet hard to describe.

March 19, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The kind of artful defiance that Hollywood is usually too timid to deliver: a jolting comedy that makes you laugh till it hurts.

May 22, 2001 Comment
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Mendes can stake a claim alongside the likes of Kubrick and Egoyan as one whose cinematic vision both challenges and entertains.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comment
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Superlatively well-made.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | Comment
Sacramento Bee
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Cripplingly broad, with network-sitcom beats dressed in R-rated threads... [endorses] a particularly adolescent male point of view.

March 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | Comment
Antagony & Ecstasy

Powerful acting, great story, but far too mature for kids.

September 14, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comments (7)
Common Sense Media

Among other special features of the Blu-ray DVD version, Sam Mendes' commentary is truly intelligent and illuminating.

August 21, 2010 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

The flaws that exist in American Beauty are effortlessly overcome by a cast that blossoms. Spacey in particular exhibits a rare wit and gravitas with Lester's weary frowns and cutting smirks, proving his mettle in this career peak performance.

June 7, 2010 Full Review Source: AskMen.com | Comment

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

June 5, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comments (16)
Slant Magazine

One of the most startling, brilliant pictures to come out of a major studio in many years.

February 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

An elusive and allusive work of art that won't be pinned down easily.

July 23, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

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.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | Comment
Big Picture Big Sound

It's like Norman Bates getting good advice from Mother.

May 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | Comments (5)
Film Freak Central

An incisive if over-the-top take on familial dysfunction.

January 4, 2007 Comment
Oscar Guy

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.

August 25, 2006 Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | Comment
Arizona Daily Star

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.

July 29, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Dark, intelligent, scandalous, emotional, and truthful -- one of the year's best.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

Director Mendes guides an artful path between desire and self-disgust, playing youth against experience, male against female.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

This is what movies are all about.

April 9, 2005 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | Comment
Reeling Reviews

Complexity, say quite a few of my colleagues. Lies, I say.

March 3, 2005 Comments (10)

As the world changed in the past five years, so did the relevance of American Beauty.

February 16, 2005 Full Review | Comments (2)

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.

December 6, 2004 Full Review Source: Looking Closer | Comments (3)
Looking Closer
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for American Beauty

Glad I re-watched this. The last time was the year that it came out, and I was 17. This time around, it reminded me of Garden State - a very adolescent film. Mendes has since gotten better - of course he eventually did Revolutionary Road, it all makes sense! - but this one is a little (a lot) on the precious side,

April 15, 2007
danperry17

Super Reviewer

American Beauty is close to a pure masterpiece. Superb acting from Kevin Spacey and Annette Brening. Along with a unique soundtrack and fantastic story, this is one of the most original and beautiful films ever made!

November 16, 2011
Samuel Riley
Sam riley

Super Reviewer

    1. Lester Burnham: Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much: my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst, and then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry, you will someday.
    – Submitted by Enrica C (14 days ago)
    1. Lester Burnham: I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me, but it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world.
    – Submitted by Enrica C (14 days ago)
    1. Ricky Fitts: Don't underestimate the power of denial.
    – Submitted by Alexandra P (33 days ago)
    1. Ricky Fitts: What's happening in the world dad.
    2. Colonel Fitts: This country is going straight to hell.
    – Submitted by Eduardo T (2 months ago)
    1. Lester Burnham: Today I quit my job. Then, I told my boss to go fuck himself, and then I blackmailed him for almost $60,000, [no pause] Pass the asparagus.
    – Submitted by Timmy C (3 months ago)

Latest News for American Beauty

December 1, 2010:
Kevin Spacey Headed to the Stage for Sam Mendes' Richard III
Kevin Spacey and Sam Mendes will reunite for a stage production of "Richard III," set to debut in...

May 29, 2008:
Stuck Just the Latest Offbeat Choice for Suvari
With this Friday's Stuck, Mena Suvari adds another strange chapter to the decidedly un-Hollywood...

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