American Beauty (Widescreen Edition) | Annette Bening, Thora Birch

American Beauty (Widescreen Edition) | Annette Bening, Thora Birch | A Disturbingly Beautiful American Fruit Salad

DVDs:

American Beauty (W...

	American Beauty (Widescreen Edition) Annette Bening, Thora Birch Dreamworks Video, 2000 average customer review:based on 1126 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

I finally get it

When I first saw this film years ago in the theater, I left thinking that it was just okay. I certainly didn't see why it garnered so much critical acclaim. Then a funny thing happened...time. Now in my mid thirties and being a homeowner, I realize I know and recognize many of the characters and dysfunctional behaviors in this film. I'm familiar with the longing to go back when you felt like your whole life was ahead of you. My first job was also in the fast food industry for very little money--and you know what? It was one of the happier times in my life. Responsibilities weren't so heavy and no matter what my parents just didn't get me. Annette Bennings's character suddenly have so much depth to me. The extremes to which people go to hide their personal darkness-isn't satire but reality. Sure this is a film where you can pick apart everyone's flaws-and there are plenty to go around-but I think one point of the movie is: that we all have them. We are never what we seem. Overall: highly recommended.

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A Disturbingly Beautiful American Fruit Salad

I first saw American Beauty when it came out in theaters in 1999 and left with a less-than-satisfactory understanding of what it was all about. Or maybe I knew what it was all about, but the impact of that knowledge didn't resonate then as it does now, after having viewed it on television and having aged into my early forties. It's a movie about those who abide by or are trapped by the "structure and discipline" of life, and those who manage to side-step those social structures as necessary to experience greater fulfillment and awareness of the greater beauty life has to offer, which is usually an awareness we have in our youth, but are not aware then that we are aware of it or that it will later give way to the killjoys of responsibility (i.e., stucture and discipline).

I especially like how this film moves from the comedic to the tragic. Highly recommended.

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