American Beauty Review

American Beauty is viewed incorrectly by so many people it kind of bugs me. Many of those who didn't like it went in expecting a very serious drama, but that isn't what the movie's about. American Beauty is a satire; it is a satire of the stereotypical "perfect" lifestyle of American’s. You have a well off family of two parents (both employed) with a single child living in a nice area. The type of family every family wants to be when they start off. American Beauty pokes fun at that showing it's not so perfect. Those who were expecting a drama left the theater going "wtf." So if they did that they missed out on probably one of the 15 best movies of the 90's. Like I said earlier the movie revolves around an upper middle class family living in suburbia, but no one in this family is happy. The father (Lester) is a f*ck up who's wife and daughter are ashamed to be seen with him, the mother (Caroline) is inches away from a total mental breakdown and is no longer in love with her husband, and the daughter (Jane) is going through the typical rebellion phase and hates both of her parents. The story really begins with their new neighbors; a family moves in next door, the father (Colonel) is a task master gay-hating former marine, the mother who seems to be suffering from Alzheimer's, and a drug dealing son (Ricky) who has gained the reputation of being crazy after spending some time in a mental institution. Ricky becomes infatuated with Jane who is reluctant at first but later gains very strong feelings for him. One day Lester and Caroline decide to go see one of their daughter's cheer leading events at her school's basketball game. There Lester see's his daughters best friend Angela, a beautiful young woman and one of the most popular kids at her school, and falls for her instantly. Going through his mid life crisis he sets out to improve himself in the hopes his daughter's friend will become attracted to him, he also quits his job and blackmails his boss, buys a new car, and starts smoking a lot of weed. At the same time his family starts to fall apart; his wife is going crazy and cheats on him, his daughter is becoming more and more distant, and it turns out within a year of the beginning of the movie he will die (not a spoiler they say that two minutes in). And it's surprisingly enjoyable to watch this families life crumble away. I would list American Beauty as one of the greatest satires of all time, along movies like Dr. Strangelove and Network. American Beauty was considered by most to be the best movie of 1999, it even went on to win five Oscars (including best picture). On top of being critically praised it was also an astounding financial success. It grossed almost 25 times its budget (which is mind boggling). In my opinion American Beauty is extremely underrated; when you think of Oscar winners you think of movies like the Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia, and Gone with the Wind. American Beauty is one of those fantastic movies that people forget about. American Beauty is one of the best acted, best directed, and best written movies in years. A brilliant social commentary on American life on what we consider to be perfect, and it's a movie that I won't soon forget.