American Beauty

-Dreamworks (1999)

Summary

Hollywood criticizes normal life. What’s new?

My Thoughts

A few years ago American Beauty was the darling of the Academy Awards. It currently appears in numerous college text books as an example of both good storytelling and filmmaking, or at least it did in books for the worthless media classes I took. This is why my next statement may be shocking, so please prepare yourself. This might ruin my credibility as a film reviewer, but I hadn’t seen American Beauty until very recently. I don’t know why, maybe I was too busy watching important pieces of cinema like Godzilla versus King Ghidorah or The Last Starfighter. I know on one level that I thought it might be another waste my time like other anti-suburbia films Pleasantville and The Virgin Suicides. I also generally can’t stand Kevin Spacey so that made the film even less appealing on the must see list. I don’t know what it is about the guy, but he seems to drip smugness out of every fiber. In any case, I finally got around to catching American Beauty on DVD, and was really surprised that I didn’t want to strangle Mr. Spacey as I was watching it. I also have to note the bizarre, yet welcome appearance of Dr. Sam Beckett  a.k.a. Captain Jonathan Archer as one of a pair of gay neighbors that lived next door to Kevin Spacey.

American Beauty criticizes the suburban ideal of success through financial wealth and status. It also deals with how people can get trapped in the daily grind of life without actually living. The film’s main focus is on Lester Burnham, played by aforementioned Kevin Spacey, who is a loser in life. He has a decent regular paying job where he’s got to kiss ass to survive, has a sham of a marriage, and he’s completely lost touch with his daughter. Lester enters a pretty typical midlife crisis that is set to overload when he sees his daughter’s beautiful friend Angela. Angela is a Lolita type, but the whole film doesn’t really focus on Lester’s obsession with her, rather it’s a catalyst for Lester’s awakening from the waking dream of his life. (See, I can be a real film reviewer sometimes!) As Lester changes, so does everyone around him for better or worse. The film winds its way through Lester’s new life until its tragic conclusion.

Spoilers to follow:

American Beauty is an amazing film from the way the story plays itself out to the beautiful direction. I found myself cheering for Lester even though all of his decisions weren’t for the best. I think it appeals to anyone who wishes they could break out of the mold of everyday life.

I found that the film also had some flaws. In particular I hated Ricky Fitts who is best spoofed as the beautiful weirdo character in Not Another Teen Movie. The way he’s portrayed is that he’s supposed to be a really deep person with all of his filming and his horrible home life, but I didn’t have any sympathy for him throughout most of the film. He never rose above creepy jerk, even though it’s clearly evident that he’s supposed to. At the end of the film he asks Lester’s daughter Jane to escape to New York where they’d get by selling drugs. How plausible is this, considering he’s a white kid from suburbia? I’d really hope he’d have some mob connections for his sake. I know this might be a little nitpick considering how good the rest of the film is, but the problem with making Ricky a hardcore drug dealer and not a kid that just happens to sell drugs is that he loses any worth he has as a free living spirit. Sure he can run away at the end, but to what point? To drag Jane down into the gutter and danger of living a crime centered lifestyle. If Ricky was just some kid that had some sort of dream or talent than at least he could truly leave, not be ordinary, and live some sort of bohemian lifestyle. Instead he’s just a petty criminal that’s weird. Then again, maybe that’s the point. For all of his “I’m not like everyone else” he’s still trapped in a cycle that he can’t break out of.

Some of the cinematography was a little off with at least one moment where Jane’s friend Angela Hayes was shown with lighting that made her forehead look the size of a billboard. The dream sequences where Lester would indulge in her also seemed rather poorly done as well. I never got the enchanting feeling I should have during those times where he is imagining Angela covered in roses or in a milky bath. In a way I felt that the tension would have been better played more subtly. In contrast, when I masturbate thinking about Angela, my dream sequences are much more erotic and stunning (oh man, my credibility ship is sinking fast). 

Other than these qualms, you’ll find a brilliant film that will have you questioning your average day to day existence. That is, you will unless you’re some guy traveling across the country on his Harley having all kinds of crazy adventures. Then I think you’d be really living life, but for the rest of us it applies. If I haven’t sold you on American Beauty yet, let me say there’s at least two, that’s two pairs of boobs. Okay, so I guess I have lost all my credibility as a film reviewer.

The picture appeared stunningly crisp and vivid on my monitor. The sound comes in decently and it helps to enhance the atmosphere of the film.

Extras

As with any film that won a few Oscars you’d expect this DVD to get some nice treatment in the extras department. Sadly, while this is a great DVD, it isn’t the best edition in terms of extras.

“Look Closer” is a doc on the film that begins rather unpromisingly by talking about how well the film did. I realize that it was a smash hit, I’m not stupid. I’d rather hear the story of the film. The rest of the doc is okay, but it utilizes too many clips and not enough info to give it the in-depth kind of info you’d really want to have. It’s more like a doc you’d see on Showtime or HBO promoting the film than anything else. In contrast there’s an audio commentary featuring director Same Mendes and mostly silent screenwriter Alan Ball. The main reason to watch it is that it’s a hell of a lot more informative than the documentary. Admittedly, it’s not the most exciting commentary in the world, but I’d recommend it over the doc any day.

The “storyboard presentation” features Sam Mendes and the director of photography Conrad Hall… talking about storyboards. The CIA once tried to come up with an interrogation tactic to make their subjects insanely bored: behold their result.

There are two theatrical trailers included on this edition. They’re both about the same, with the second one being a little more to the point. “Cast and Crew” is basically filmographies. Just when I think I’ve seen the last of these horrid things, here comes another DVD with this garbage on it. Likewise, the “Production Notes” are also an appearance by classic DVD filler.

To access the DVD ROM content you have to install some software (gah!) before you can use it. Once you get it up and running, it offers a script to screen feature with some storyboards to look at, which was pretty neat if you are into that sort of thing.

Score

Film: 8.5

Extras:  6.0

Edition: 7.0

-Paul