AMERICAN BEAUTY
We learn early on in American Beauty that 42-year-old
Lester Burnham (Spacey) is going to die. He announces that in
his opening narration. But the way he describes his marriage to
Carolyn (Annette Bening), one wonders if he really has that much
to live for. Carolyn is an ambitious real estate agent (is there
any other kind?) who is so concerned with appearances that the
pruning shears she uses to manicure her roses actually match her
gardening clogs. Despite the fact that she never wants to touch
Lester, she implores him to "pretend that we're happy."
As if Carolyn's indifference isn't enough, the couple's daughter
Jane (Thora Birch) openly refers to her father as a "lame-o."
And to top it all off, Lester goes to work to find that the company
where he's been working for 14 years has hired a man named Brad
to assess each employee's work, so the management can make some
cutbacks.
But Lester's pointless, sexually frustrated life changes when
he goes to see Jane in a cheerleading routine at her high school's
basketball game. Dancing alongside Jane is her friend Angela (Mena
Suvari, American Pie), a
sexy teenage vixen who captures Lester's fantasy life like a wild
animal pounces on its prey. When he hears that Angela likes muscular
men, he begins a workout program to build his flabby body into
a sex machine. As his stamina increases, and as Angela becomes
more and more flirtatious, he adopts a cavalier attitude, telling
Brad, Carolyn, and everyone else who bothers him to basically
go to hell. But Lester's not the only one in the marriage with
a wandering eye. Carolyn has begun to fall for a competitor, a
wealthy real estate agent (Peter Gallagher) who represents the
model of success — a sharp contrast to her own loser husband.
As the Burnhams' story is unfolding, we meet their new neighbors,
who seem to have a "keep up with the Joneses" attitude
about family problems. Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley), a new classmate
of Jane's, has a habit of stalking and videotaping things he thinks
represent the beauty of nature (of which she is one). His father,
retired Marine Colonel Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper, October
Sky), is a straight-laced conservative jarhead to the
nth degree. And the mother, Barbara (Allison Janney), spends
her time staring glassily off into space. Ricky's appearance is
really the catalyst for change in this film; his relationship
with the Burnhams leads to life-altering consequences for just
about everyone in both houses.
American Beauty is not your average murder comedy. Director Mendes combines hilarious comic elements with seriously dark undertones. It is a veritable cornucopia of psychological disorders and uncomfortable moments, punctuated effectively with an innovative musical score by Thomas Newman. When the film nears its climax, as with any good mystery, there are at least three possible candidates for Lester's killer. Not all the actors perform perfectly on their marks, but Spacey's style and delivery save the film time after time. ****