Directed by: Sam Mendes
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora
Birch, Wes Bentley, and Chris Cooper
Suburbs are often full of
facades. What we see of our neighbors
when they're out tells us nothing about what's really going on in their
lives. The Burnham family is the perfect
example of this. To the entire world,
Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a happy man living a happy life. Little do outsiders know that Lester hates
his job. He's having marital problems
with his wife Carolyn (Annette Bening), and his daughter Jane (Thora Birch)
hates his guts. Given all of this, it's
no surprise that Lester has a midlife crisis.
It is surprising though when he falls for his teen daughter's best
friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). Sam Mendes
gives us one of the greatest onscreen critiques of the everyday life of the
American suburbanite. Superb acting from
a stellar cast coupled with the director's graceful tackling of potent themes
of American life creates a brilliant film full of commentary that resonates
throughout all our lives in some way. American Beauty makes us recognize the
facades in our own lives.
