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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
American Beauty
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  out of 4
Review by PatrickK
4 stars out of 4
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American Beauty tells the story of a family breakdown - couple Lester
Burnham (Spacey) and Carolyn (Bening) are living a sexless, lifeless
marriage and their daughter, Jane (Birch) hates them both. Tired of
revolving around social norms, Lester quits his advertising job and meets
his new, drug dealing, video filming 18 year old neighbour Ricky (Wes
Bentley), and his former Marine father (Chris Cooper). He works at a fast
food outlet, buys his dream car and starts working out - and he has never
felt happier. Meanwhile, Carolyn is becoming more and more estranged from
her husband, despising him and Jane as she gets into a relationship with
a real-estate agent. Jane takes a strange liking to Ricky next door and
she begins to understand how Ricky appreciates beauty. She becomes more
distant from her sexy, precocious friend Angela (Mena Suvari). The film's
in-depth look at society and relationships, and the dealings with such
issues as homosexuality, drugs, homophobia, sex, depression and gun
ownership makes it a strong film about the now with a good element of
comedy and eventual surprise.
Being a teenager, this film has kept me thinking and thinking, a good
two months after I saw it. And thats one of the fantastic things about
this film - everybody who sees it will take something different away and
really should have been thoroughly entertained by it. While, like most
viewers, I tended to become sympathetic of Lester's situation, I really
liked Ricky's character - strange as he was - someone who could find
beauty where it is usually overlooked. After the film I had to ask and
still do ask: What could possibly have been done to bring the Burnham's
back together as a family? I believe anyone who sees this film will have
their perspective on everyday life given a severe twist. Quite possibly,
one of the greatest films ever made.
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