American Beauty

Released 1999

Kevin Spacey Annette Bening Thora Birch Wes Bentley

Welcome to Suburbia.  We are introduced, during the opening credits of the film, to Lester Burnham (Spacey) 's town, neighborhood, street, and wife, whose gardening shears match her gardening shoes.  Burnham says he expects to be dead in a year; "in a way, I'm dead already."  Lester is an ordinary middle-aged man with an ordinary middle-aged life:  his teenage daughter hates him, his wife finds him annoying, his job officially finds him unnecessary (for which he blackmails them after he's fired). A new family moves in next door to the Burnhams, a military-lifer father, a zombie mother, and a son who's been sent to reform school more times than I've heard my name.  Ricky (the son)'s favorite pastime involves filming with his little handheld.  About midway through the movie we see some footage he got of a plastic bag being blown around by the wind, and he gives the most wonderful and touching speech on beauty that I've ever heard. The story, though, is about Lester.  After he gets fired, he starts flipping burgers at Mr Smiley's burger joint, buys a 1970 Pontiac Firebird (the car he's always wanted), develops a crush on his daughter Jane's friend Angela, smokes a lot of pot, and starts working out.  His attitude is almost Office Space-esque in a way, in that he's so laid back that he doesn't care about the things he "should" care about. Sorry this is so short, but really, it's one of those movies where when it ends, the audience just sits there and stares at the screen for about 15 seconds, when the giggling begins.  No, really -- you laugh to break the tension and to keep from crying.  It's not an American History X or Schindler's List crying; I was so moved by the beauty of the film and of the characters, especially of Lester himself, that it was hard to not cry once the credits started rolling.  The cinematography was pure genius. This is one of those movies that helps you understand quotes like, "There are some things that are so beautiful you should have a license to have them" (Sean Patrick Flanery).  Some people just don't deserve this movie, that's how good it is.