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American Beauty is a bit of a cult classic, appealing to a certain subset of viewers. American Beauty is unlike any other movie that I have ever seen. It's uniqueness stems from the fact that it is funny, but it also deals with a lot of serious issues. It deals with a lot of our society's fascination with material things and selfishness, some of which may not be evident on the surface - a sentiment that is expressed in the tagline of the movie: "Look closer."

The star of the movie is Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham. He is a depressed, suburban father who is essentially going through a mid-life crisis. He blackmails his boss as he is quitting his job in order to get a better severance ("I'm just an ordinary guy with nothing to lose"), and soon after he turns his life around after developing an infatuation with Angela (Mena Suvari), his daughter's friend. The movie follows the transformation that Lester undergoes, as well as the lessons that he learns and the mistakes that he has made.

The movie deals a lot with perspective. For example, the character with perhaps the most unique perspective is Ricky Fitts, Lester's next door neighbor's son. Ricky is drug-dealing high schooler who eventually falls in love with Lester's daughter. But what makes Ricky unique is that he sees the beauty in different things, and sees things in a way that sometimes other people do not see them. For example, he films and remarks about the beauty of a plastic bag flying in the wind. This is not a conventional thought when one sees a plastic bag, but from Ricky's example it is an example of how there is so much beauty in the world.

Another interesting thing is seeing how many people react to their environment. For example, Angela was really an insecure teenager, but in order to try and be cool and garner a reputation in school, she pretended to be a promiscuous, confident teenager. Ricky's father was a closet homosexual, but to make up for it he bashed them at all opportunities, and abused Ricky when he thought he was gay. Look closer.

I thought the movie was ended perfectly, with Lester basically giving a summation of what he had learned, but it happens as he is being shot to death.

"I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn't a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time... For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars... And yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined my street... Or my grandmother's hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper... And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new Firebird... And Janie... And Janie... And... Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday."

American Beauty is one of my favorite films... definitely a movie worth seeing!

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