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American Beauty
A rather traumatized man landed in a dream that makes him feel he needs to retrace his steps for a good life.
9 October 1954, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
31 May 1974, El Paso, Texas, USA
15 February 1977, Downey, California, USA
10 November 1962, Fontana, California, USA
19 November 1959, Dayton, Ohio, USA
16 December 1961, New York City, New York, USA
4 September 1978, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA
1971
9 July 1951, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
1952
8 April 1926, Los Angeles, California, USA
26 July 1959, South Orange, New Jersey, USA
13 December 1981, USA
13 February 1979, Newport, Rhode Island, USA
1971, Costa Mesa, California, USA
February 22, 2015
This engrossing centrepiece meshes with subplots involving Burnham's dysfunctional family and unbalanced neighbours, in a virtuoso study of isolation, repression and fulfilment. Mendes infuses the lush visuals and lyrical script with dramatic panache.
February 22, 2015
The film is stunningly poignant, and when first time cinema director Mendes turns his hands to the serious aspects of the disintegration of human souls, the funny lurches to the profound with hardly a flicker of disruption.
February 22, 2015
Kevin Spacey is the greatest actor of his generation, hands down, no contest.
February 22, 2015
A tightly coiled rage seethes beneath the pretty surface of American Beauty, a wickedly funny black comedy directed by newcomer Sam Mendes.
February 22, 2015
The writing is acidically amusing without ever trying to conceal the loneliness at the heart, the direction a perfect frame for the characters and the wonderful performances that create them.
May 08, 2014
Kevin Spacey gives the performance of his life.
February 22, 2015
This seriocomic autopsy of middle-class virtue has the capacity to startle and surprise, and a gift for finding grim humor at the heart of tragedy.
February 22, 2015
American Beauty is deeply disturbing, acerbically funny, brilliantly acted, breathtakingly original and highly sophisticated.
January 28, 2014
Alan Ball's script is a terrific piece of material, and Mendes responds directly to its subversive, provocative vision of a curdled American Dream.
January 28, 2014
American Beauty approaches a manic, almost cartoonish edge without falling over. Both Spacey and Bening use extraordinary comic timing to bring these very sad, lost characters to life.
May 08, 2014
Why, then, did I enjoy it so little? Because of its unrelenting self-importance: American Beauty wants us to know, in every shot at every turn, just how clever and mercilessly cutting it is.
February 22, 2015
This is Spacey's best performance since he took home an Oscar for The Usual Suspects.
