American Beauty
Dreamworks Pictures
Directed by Sam Mendes

Starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Chris Cooper and Alison Janney

Reviewed by Rona Geller

A perfect neighborhood. A perfect home. A perfect-looking couple with a child who is "only going through an adolescent phase," and all the anger, discontent and sexual frustration that makes this marriage perfectly normal.

This is the slice of life that your parents hid from the neighbors. The $8,000 Ethan Allen couch they bought was the ticket into the show-and-tell "American Dream" wax museum, where nothing is as it appears.

Lester Burnham (Spacey) lives in such a museum with his mess of a paper doll wife, Carolyn (Bening). They have one child, Jane (Birch) who is a high school student. She is a deeper more realistic version of any high school student than any mannequin on the WB Network. Jane explores love with the new boy next door (Wes Bentley), an introverted ex-mental patient, the result of a homophobic militant father (Cooper) and a comatose mother (Janney). Lester is a walking zombie, feeling the feelings he is supposed to feel, every day for years. Underneath that all is a very passionate, lively man trying to break out of his hardened shell. When he starts yearning for his daughter's friend Angela, it awakens his every sense. He begins to live by quitting his job, buying the car he has always wanted, and living in his "rose-tinted" fantasies. But the more he lives for pure happiness and self-fulfillment, the more his world crumbles.

American Beauty succeeds as a brilliant character study, especially of the marriage between the Burnhams. Their love for one another decomposes into something much worse than hate --numbness.

The acting in this movie was quite extraordinary -- not since "The Usual Suspects" has Kevin Spacey had a chance to show the world that he is the finest actor of this generation (dissenting opinions might want to check out "Swimming with Sharks"). As Lester, you feel Spacey's desperation; through his walk and the look in his eyes you see the remains of what was once a man. He reminded me of a young Jack Lemmon -- a great compliment. The standout performance by newcomer Bentley marks the start of a bright career for this Julliard Graduate. Chris Cooper and Allison Janney are terrific as always. And kudos to Mendes' film debut -- best known for his brilliant work on the Broadway revival of "Cabaret", we are now fortunate enough to see through his eyes on the big screen.

American Beauty is not just a comic adventure through a suburban Oz. It's an important film -- one that will stand out in years to come. It tells everyone who feels lust, pain and confusion that they are not alone -- they are actually very much alive.

Hallelujah.