Data
Title: American Beauty
Year: 1999
Length: 122 minutes
Director: Sam Mendes
Writer: Alan Ball
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper
Music: Thomas Newman (and non-original music)
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Spacey) and Best Cinematography; Oscar nominations for Best Actress (Bening), Best Score and Best Editing; currently #39 on the IMDb's Top 250
My reaction
Synopsis: a middle-aged loser turns his life upside down
How I saw it: in the theater, c. 1999; on video many times (have on DVD), most recently yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good. Bening is great. The actors playing teenagers are mediocre.
Music: Good. Great score, cheesy soundtrack.
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great). It's interesting that this, Fight Club and Office Space all came out in the same year. What's with people in 1999 hating their jobs/lives? Back then Lester Burnham seemed like the ultimate middle-class hero, but now he seems like an irresponsible shmuck (but a lovable irresponsible shmuck who's fun to watch).
Objective Rating: 3.6/4 (Great).
Just re-watched this the other day actually. Still great.
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