The
Submitted by UncRoger on Tue, 07/11/2000 - 07:24
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The response to American Beauty on The Listology is overwhelmingly positive. In addition, my former roommate (and now brother-in-law) said it was the best movie he'd seen in ten years (but his previous favorite was 3 hours of a guy riding around the desert in a sheet.) And it won all those oscars. But after finally getting around to watch it last night, I found it unimpressive. Am I alone?
While the cinematography was indeed good, and the acting excellent, I found the characters to be transparent, un-subtle, and predictable. Even the story itself was pretty predictable. I'm not saying it was a bad film, just that it wasn't anywhere near as good as everyone said it was.
Rachel thought it weird, but it surely didn't even come close to movies such as Repo Man or Koyanisqaatsi in that department. And there are plenty of other disfunctional-family movies that are just have better stories. As a statement on homosexuality, it was way too simplistic, just as it was with the other topics it tried to cover.
It seemed like a traditional plot-centric movie that gave up trying for an interesting story in order to be intellectual and sureallistic, and didn't quite make it in either arena. It's worth renting, even if just to decide for yourself, but I won't be buying a copy.
It's too bad this movie got the attention it did. I was able to catch this one before I'd heard anything about it, and was truly impressed. The level of intellect was not as much as it could have been and the handling of certain issues (ie. the homosexuality) simplistic, as UncRoger said, but I think the acting and seamless blending of comedy and drama more than made up for this.
I think Annette Bening's acting was superb; particularly the part after she tries to sell the house and has a bit of a breakdown. I also thought that the visually shocking scenes (ex. when Annette Bening's character is having sex in the motel room were very effective and funny.
I agree about the acting; Annette Bening, Kevin Spacey, Thora Birch, and Wes Bentley were all great. I just couldn't go higher than pretty good on the ratings scale -- and can't figure why everyone else is so gaga over it.
I didn't see too much that was visually shocking -- even at the very end, when Spacey is killed and his blood splatters, it was pretty clean, compared to other movies and to real life. Three Kings' wound scenes were probably worse, and I'm sure there are others -- try The Cook the Thief His Wife and Her Lover for instance.
I don't see this as a terribly heavy movie, really, nor do I see it as a fun film, so it kinda gets lost somewhere in the middle. But, yes, great acting and great cinematography.
Perhaps I should have been a little more careful with my wording. I didn't mean shocking, exactly - more surprising. The opening shower scene, and Lester Burnham smoking up and giggling behind the building during the party were a little unusual (I thought), and the unexpectedness of these scenes made me laugh.
I can see how the mix of comedy/drama would be off-putting, instead of refreshing as I saw it.
American Beauty is a good if slightly over-rated film. Any slams against Lawrence of Arabia, though, and punches may soon be thrown!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs