Two old bulls
 Aug 12th, 2001
Advantages:
Spacey, the story, oh and everything
Disadvantages:
None
Recommendable:
Yes
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  dave27
About me:
Member since:24.09.2000
Reviews:989
Members who trust:167
Review rated by 44 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
There are two bulls, a young one and an old one, stood chewing the cud on top of a hill. They are surveying all before them and gaze down into the valley below them, where all the best examples of bovine beauty are capering before them. The young bull turns to the old one and whispers, "Hey, old timer, let's run down this hill and give them young chickens a good seeing to."
The old bull considers slowly and speaks without turning his head, "NO, NO, NO, young 'un, let's stroll down slowly and give THEM ALL A DAMN GOOD SEEING TO...." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Errmmm, dave27, what's that got to do with this film, exactly?
Errmmm, a great deal really, because 'American Beauty' is an amazing depiction of American life and the generation gap and despair at the passing of life, but at the same time a reassuring promise that the maturity of age has its own benefits. So when your paunch is sagging, and your heart sags more heavily, just think of this masterpiece and the startling performance and renaissance of Kevin Spacey.
When it takes you all night to do what you used to do all night....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kevin Spacey has always given great value and there is no change here, in one of the most wonderful films of the last ten years. In fact, 'American Beauty' is quite simply a wonderful, wonderful movie which blends together a number of different themes into one gorgeous, splendid whole that is visually and intellectually stunning.
I've seen it a couple of times and the first time I saw it, it didn't seem such a big deal to me, certainly not as much as it had been hyped up to be, but in the days following I started thinking more deeply about it and putting it into some form of context and began
to appreciate the true wonder of the work. I just couldn't stop thinking about it and had to check it out one more time. Things were fully revealed to me when I copped it for a second time recently and I can say that it reveals new wonders every time you see it.
In fact, the hype is a bit of a bugbear for this film because it comes across as something of a substandard recreation of the Lolita legend in that it shows Spacey as Lester Burnham totally obsessed with the younger woman, Mena Suvari, as his daughter's friend Angela. That particular theme is, indeed, part of this film, but in truth is quite a minor one. Much of the credit for the quality of this film must go to the immaculate Spacey, but director Sam Mendes should also take his fair share. Before I checked him out, I was positive that he had done a lot of previous stuff and was an experienced and accomplished talent, but 'American Beauty' is his film debut, although you would never think so by the utter magnificence of this epic. He had previously won awards for his work in the theatre, but film is a completely different field from theatre and it is to Mendes' eternal credit that he takes to it like a duck to water.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lester Burnham, the underdog hero of the midlife crisis crew, the supposed head of yer average middle class family in the suburban US, bored and listless and directionless. The family has little feeling for each other and Burnham's wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) spends all her time putting up a happy and insubstantial front as she runs a real estate brokers (estate agency to we Brits). The Burnham's daughter Jane is unsure of herself and unhappy with the way she looks.
None of this sad little collection of flawed humanity can really recognise what is happening to them, but they know they're not particularly happy with their lot, and the resentment between them grows as they subconsciously blame each other for the emptiness of their own individual lot. The catalyst for some changing times comes in the shape of some new characters who enter their separate lives. A new family, the Fittses, move in next door to the Burnhams, Carolyn's business competitor, Buddy Kane, becomes her lover, and Lester becomes gradually obsessed with Angela when he sees her from afar as a cheerleader. His whole world starts to revolve around an idealistic desire for her as the perfect antidote to all his bad feelings about himself.
At the same time, Lester gets to know the teenager next door, Ricky Fitts, who starts to supply him with dope and open his eyes to what could be. He also discovers his wife's infidelity and inspired by Ricky's approach to life, starts to cut the marital ties that bind and quits his mundane job, blackmailing his despicable boss into giving him a massive pay off. He puts Carolyn in her place and starts to act very oddly, getting his body into shape and working out in an attempt to appeal to Angela. Ricky starts to woo Jane, but his homophobic father, a former Army colonel, believes that the vast fortune that Ricky has built up from his drug business is actually the earnings of male prostitution and is convinced that Lester is paying him for sex...
A very rich and strange panorama of life as she is lived. Now that quick summary is literally only skimming the surface of this intriguing portrait of American life, but it's all I'm going to give you because it would only spoil the pleasure for you, and would come over poorly on the printed (or HTML) page. You really need to see the tale unfold to appreciate it.
Spacey and Bening are wonderful in this film, particularly Bening, who plays a materialistic, shallow, domineering moneygrabber. Being has said: "Carolyn really doesn’t have any insight into what Lester’s problem is, or for that matter, what her own problem is. She doesn’t even know at first that there is a problem, but Lester begins to change, so consequently Carolyn is forced to change. Carolyn is like so many people who feel an emptiness in their lives and try to fill it up with having the right things. She believes if you have the right car and the right house and even the right garden, then somehow your life will turn out all right." Spacey, however, takes all the real honours with another in a long string of marvellous roles. He went to enormous lengths for the part, matching Burnham's successful attempts to improve his body with a punishing fitness routine during the film's making. He is quoted as saying: "The physical transformation was the biggest challenge for me in the film. I start the film as sort of a schlub - bad posture, overweight - and through the course of the story completely change my appearance. It was very time consuming and demanded a great deal of commitment, but on the other hand, I saw results pretty quickly, which was inspiring. It dramatically changed not only my eating habits but my energy level; they had to hit me over the head with a hammer to make me fall asleep at night."
He also says of his part: "I think Lester is very much like a lot of men in American life, who start out having certain ideas about the kind of life they will have, but somewhere along the line, they get squashed down. Something happened to Lester that promotes change, that makes him remember the things he wanted. He suddenly realises the lack of honesty in his life, the lack of communication - not being able to say what he actually feels and do what he actually wants. He’s grappling with feelings that have long been dormant, but have been reawakened in him. It’s not so much a mid-life crisis, but rather a sort of rebirth. He begins to realise how precious life is . . . a realisation that’s in some ways too late." Sorry about the lengthy quotes, but it's appropriate you get a fair chunk of insights into this marvellous, marvellous epic of modern day life. It is just one splendid mass of wonderment and is very much a MUST SEE, although you need to be prepared for empty feelings towards the end as all the upward positivity vibe which you had started to feel around Burnham falls hopelessly apart.
...so in the words of the diary note left by the delivery man whose vehicle had broken down but had to visit Mrs Hunniford just after the weekend ... SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI.
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![American Beauty [DVD] [2000]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78526734.jpg)
08.05.2006 23:06
Just watched this film for the first time and I loved it. Great review ~ Pete
11.11.2004 23:45
I loved this film, Kevin Spacey is excellant! ~Maz x
01.05.2004 18:25
good op. j x