Review - American Beauty (1999)
If you don't take into account how important or influential a film is, and look at it only for its storytelling merit, I consider American Beauty to be the best film ever made. It is the Great American Film like The Grapes of Wrath is the Great American Novel. Let my gushing love for this film flow...
American Beauty's opening is very interesting. It is obviously shot on home video, and introduces us to two characters (one unseen) and a situation that we don't entirely understand, but come across later in the movie. It also hooks us right away, as it involves two teenagers talking about killing one of their fathers.
Next we see the insidiously clever title and hear the main character, Lester Burnham, speaking to us, "I'm 42 years old. In less than a year, I'll be dead." If we weren't already hooked, we are now. This story is being told to us by a dead man (which, to my knowledge, has only been done twice before, in Sunset Boulevard and Laura - both of which are early film noirs).
Our introduction to Lester is informative, riveting, and daring: "Look at me. Jerking off in the shower. This will be the high point of my day. It's all downhill from here."
Caroline (Lester's wife) has an introduction no less entertaining: "See the way the handle on those pruning sheers matching her gardening clogs? That's not an accident."
One of American Beauty's assets is that it never lets up. Many great films are frequently brilliant, innovative, and strong, but most have their slightly boring parts, or a few lines of dialogue that aren't very interesting, or a scene that is unnecessary. American Beauty has none of these.
It is especially fun to pay attention to the dialogue. Each line accomplishes several jobs at once, whether it be revealing character and entertaining, moving the plot and providing backstory, or commenting on society and paying tribute to another movie. Every character in the movie, big or small, has a large backstory and an interesting personality, from Jim & Jim to Ricky's mother - an emotional shell.
Jane is one of the most realistic teenage characters ever presented on film. We all know one person (or likely, several) like Jane. Angela is another believable character with which many of us are familiar: the teenager that talks big about sex but has very little real experience (though, we don't discover that last bit until a small twist at the end of the film).
Our next major character introduction is unconventional. We first see a shot of home video looking at a continuing dialogue between Lester and Jane, and then we see the young man behind the camera: Ricky. But, he still exists only in our minds: we do not actually meet Ricky or talk to him until much later. He is a mystery.
The movie also hosts one of the best ensemble performances of the last decade. While this is mostly due to the performers, it's also a credit to the screenplay. Actors can do better acting with good dialogue and written actions than with poor dialogue and weak characterizations. Also, when a character is more fully developed on the page, the actor does less wandering on screen and is more comfortable with their character. This is all very evident in American Beauty.
If there is one thing I love in movies, it's when they are terribly honest in the face of political correctness, common 'wisdom' and stereotypes (especially movie stereotypes).
For example, common parenting advice dictates that teenagers want their parents to be involved in their life and activities, and that parental absence from these things can make the child feel unimportant and unloved. But I know that when I was a teenager the only result of my parents showing up for a sporting event or party would be embarrassment. I've heard most of my peers express the same sentiment. American Beauty plays with this when we first hear Jane talking with a friend about how she doesn't want her parents to come to her cheerleader performance. Then, on their way to the event, Caroline and Lester discuss how important it is to Jane that they attend.
Another example comes a little later when Jane discovers she is being spied on. She outwardly proclaims that she finds it creepy, and calls Ricky an asshole, but during a private moment with the audience, we discover that it makes Jane feel special and interesting, and she likes it. This kind of thing is what many people experience, but few will actually admit enjoying.
During the cheerleading performance, Lester sots a pretty young blonde (Jane's friend Angela), and has a moment every male is familiar with: all else fades away as Angela teases his fantasies on the stage of his mind. In an awkward discussion with Angela after the performance, Lester fulfills what he alluded to earlier in describing Jane: "...Jane is a pretty typical teenager: angry, insecure, confused. I wish I could tell her that's all going to pass, but I don't want to lie to her."
American Beauty has many greatly entertaining twists. Caroline ends up sleeping with her arch nemesis and competitor. Angela, who talks constantly about her sex life, is a virgin. Deranged druggie Ricky is the most secure and confident person in the film. The most beautiful thing imaginable is a plastic bag caught in the wind. Jane falls in love with the 'asshole' she claimed to be creeped out by.
Some of the line readings in this movie are among the most memorable in recent years: Wes Bentley's reading of "Sometimes, there's just so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it," and Kevin Spacey's reading of "I didn't lose it - it's not like 'whoops, where'd my job go?' - I quit!" and "It's just a couch!"
The film weaves together multiple plot lines, which all converge during the climax. The climax arrives not because the plot pulls the characters behind it, but because the unique characters push each other and their stories together in conflict. It's beautiful.
American Beauty is a case study in brilliant filmmaking: originality, memorable and believable characters, plot twists, setup and payoff, reversals, scene construction, conflict buildup and resolution, mood setting, and pace.
American Beauty gets bonus points for showing Lester singing along to a guitar solo, which I do all the time (I know any guitar solo better than the lyrics for the song it punctuates).
