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starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari directed by: Sam Mendes Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9780783246741 Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Special Edition, NTSC ISBN: 0783246749 Label: Dreamworks Video Manufacturer: Dreamworks Video Number Of Items: 2 Publisher: Dreamworks Video Release Date: October 24, 2000 Running Time: 122 minutes Sales Rank: 6708 Studio: Dreamworks Video Theatrical Release Date: October 01, 1999 Related Items:
Editorial Review: Amazon.com essential video: From its first gliding aerial shot of a generic suburban street, American Beauty moves with a mesmerizing confidence and acuity epitomized by Kevin Spacey's calm narration. Spacey is Lester Burnham, a harried Everyman whose midlife awakening is the spine of the story, and his very first lines hook us with their teasing fatalism--like Sunset Boulevard's Joe Gillis, Burnham tells us his story from beyond the grave. It's an audacious start for a film that justifies that audacity. Weaving social satire, domestic tragedy, and whodunit into a single package, Alan Ball's first theatrical script dares to blur generic lines and keep us off balance, winking seamlessly from dark, scabrous comedy to deeply moving drama. The Burnham family joins the cinematic short list of great dysfunctional American families, as Lester is pitted against his manic, materialistic realtor wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening, making the most of a mostly unsympathetic role) and his sullen, contemptuous teenaged daughter, Jane (Thora Birch, utterly convincing in her edgy balance of self-absorption and wistful longing). Into their lives come two catalytic outsiders. A young cheerleader (Mena Suvari) jolts Lester into a sexual epiphany that blooms into a second adolescence. And an eerily calm young neighbor (Wes Bentley) transforms both Lester and Jane with his canny influence. Credit another big-screen newcomer, English theatrical director Sam Mendes, with expertly juggling these potentially disjunctive elements into a superb ensemble piece that achieves a stylized pace without lapsing into transparent self-indulgence. Mendes has shrewdly insured his success with a solid crew of stage veterans, yet he's also made an inspired discovery in Bentley, whose Ricky Fitts becomes a fulcrum for both plot and theme. Cinematographer Conrad Hall's sumptuous visual design further elevates the film, infusing the beige interiors of the Burnhams' lives with vivid bursts of deep crimson, the color of roses--and of blood. --Sam Sutherland Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Excellent, Great, Convincing movie!This movie is really great. It doesn't seem much like a best picture movie, but who cares, it's an awesome movie! It is very disturbing, depressing, and serious. It's supposed to be a comedy-drama, but if you ask me, it's mostly a drama, not to say it isn't funny, it's just very serious, especially at the end. They said before I saw it that the movie would get stuck in my head for days. It concerned me forever. Of course, they said the same thing for Million Dollar Baby, but that didn't concern ... Read More Rating:  - A dreary story well toldAmerican Beauty is superbly performed and technically excellent. Despite this, I didn't care for it when I saw it in a theater. I decided to view it again to see if time would give me a different perspective. Nope. This tale about empty suburban lives still disappointed me. Examining how people can break out of a mind numbing rut can be illuminating and even entertaining, but every character choose a path that would only lead to aggravating their personal problems. Selfishness and death ... Read More Rating: - artistic attack on middle class valuesThis is a good film and and I would like it except for two things: The title and the fact there was nothing to feel good about in watching this film--it was depressing. It is a not-so-subtle attack on middle class American values and institutions. Targets are the American Military, Marriage, gun ownership, corporate America/capitalism, consumerism, traditional morals and sexual mores etc....The only thing the writers left out was religion--none of the cast of dysfunctional people were church going christians. ... Read More Rating: - Absolutely AmazingThis is one of my favorite movies and it gets better each time you watch it. You can identify with some of the characters in the movie and although it is dark and sad, it has a moral to the story and the ending was just amazingly done. Even though your sad for the main character, you still realize that his life had finished in a weirdly positive way. Hence the smile at the end. I highly recommend this movie. It should be in everyone's DVD collection and is one of those movies you can watch over and over again without ... Read More Rating: - Loved this Movie!American Beauty reflects the beginnings of the "Impressionistic" stage of movie making. The scenes and characters are conglomerations of situations and "types" of people... The real estate agent, the bored commercial writer, the unhappy teenager, the uptight military officer, the Stepford wife, the abused son, etc. Each person plays his role according to his type. The movie successfully reveals pent up emotions beautifully such as when the real estate agent ends her day of promoting a home she's selling ... Read More |
