Your Honest Thoughts/Opinions on "American Beauty"???

I'm too tired to really elucidate my thoughts, but this review is pretty close to how I feel. Especially the part about '70s social drama tropes and shallow, cheap, dialogue.


American Beauty

Seems odd to call Suvari amazing and then dunk on her performance like that. And for me she's actually the best of the teen actors. I think "seeing the acting" is an intentional choice, since that's essentially what the character was doing most of the time - acting. And once you see the real her at the end I think she's pretty effective, particularly the "I'm a virgin" scene which could have been hokey but she sells it. The worst for me was Birch, who was way more stilted and wooden than I remembered. Sometimes she sounds like she's reading off cue cards.

Anyway, if it wasn't obvious, I just rewatched this again earlier. This is the first time I've seen it since I was a teenager, and like many I worshiped it at the time. But I'm not sure how much it holds up. Besides Birch, Annette Bening is basically playing a cartoon character. She's kind of an OTT actress in general, but her character is written with zero subtlety or nuance compared to the rest of the cast. And yeah, a lot of its grandiose dialogue and directing choices now feel a bit corny and pretentious. "It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing." Shut the fuck up, Bentley.

Spacey is still great in it, though. Say what you want about him in real life, his comic timing and sensitivity in this are on point.

Kinda funny seeing this on the other side of the hill. I'm still younger than Lester, but basically having the same experience as he does post-"fuck it" attitude. The muscle car, retreating to a dead end job for people younger than me, working out, trying to get laid all time. I have become this character.

I liked it but didn't really love it.

Not a huge fan of the film, but I thought it was pretty good for the most part. One hell of a score from Thomas Newman as well.