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{{work|wppage=American Beauty (1999 film)}}
[[File:menaAmericanBeauty_5863.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|
A dramedy that won the Best Picture [[Academy Award|Oscar]] for 2000. It was the break-out film for writer Alan Ball and director [[Sam Mendes]], thus giving us, at a stroke: ''[[Six Feet Under]]'', ''[[True Blood]]''; ''[[Road to Perdition]]'', ''[[Jarhead]]'', ''[[Revolutionary Road]]'' and ''[[Away We Go]]''. Chris Cooper also got his launch here, and there was great hype for a while about the younger actors, though unfortunately they haven't amounted to all that much since. Finally, Kevin Spacey won his second Oscar here.
Notable for being a dark, cynical, and dead-funny look at modern suburbia, possibly encouraging the recent trend of [[True Art Is Angsty|arty/angsty]], relatively-obscure dramas getting all the Best Picture nods. It's also notable for juggling a ton of characters, ''successfully'', where most films top out at three or four.
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As to the plot, the opening narration tells it all:
{{quote|
"...Of course, I don't know that yet. And, in a way, I'm dead already."
* '''Lester Burnham''' (Kevin Spacey), a [[Henpecked Husband]] and personality-less advertising-magazine wage slave who feels trapped in a shallow and meaningless life. He is the film's [[Posthumous Narration|Posthumous Narrator]] and main character, and the story concerns his efforts to find happiness. "Both my wife and daughter think I'm this gigantic loser... and they're right."
* '''Carolyn Burnham''' (Annette Bening), his wife, head of a real-estate firm and a [[Stepford Smiler]] of alarming caliber. "My company sells an image. It's part of my job to live that image."
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As the film progresses, Lester quits his job (but not before blackmailing his boss into giving him a pension), takes up a new one at a fast food joint, and trades in his sensible Toyota for a [[Cool Car|vintage Firebird]] he always wanted as a boy.
{{tropelist}}▼
▲{{tropelist}}
* [[A-Cup Angst]]: Jane is looking up breast augmentation on the internet early in the movie. Inexplicable, as we see later in the film that she's quite amply endowed.
* [[Adopt the Dog]]: Lester holds back from {{spoiler|taking the girl of his dreams}}.
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* [[Black Comedy]]
* [[Camera Fiend]]: Angela thinks Ricky is this but he films Jane because he thinks she's interesting, and stops when she asks him to. The scene where Jane strips off for him on camera points this out as, while she is topless, Ricky is pointing the camera at her eyes because of her expression.
* [[Casting Couch]]: Angela boasts of sleeping with a photographer to enhance her modeling career.
* [[Chivalrous Pervert]]: Lester's obsession over Angela is pretty [[Squick]]-inducing, but when he actually has a chance to fulfill his fantasy {{spoiler|he stops once he realizes that for all her bravado Angela is still an inexperienced little girl}}.
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Mrs. Fitts.
* [[A Date with Rosie Palms]]:
{{quote|
** His wife also catches him in bed. "Lester, are you masturbating?!"
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Lester especially, but sometimes Carolyn and Jane as well.
* [[Dysfunction Junction]]: Pretty much everyone except Lester, Ricky, and Jane is horribly insecure, and those three exceptions are still a bit weird.
** And, actually, the entire point of Jane's character arc is that she has a horrifically poor self-image at the beginning. It does improve throughout the movie.
* [[Faux Yay]]: Ricky sarcastically claims to be a prostitute who services other men when his father tells him that he would rather him dead than homosexual.
** [[Crowning Moment of Funny|"And you should see me fuck. I'm the best piece of ass in three states!"]]
* [[Fille Fatale]]: Subverted, if not full on Deconstructed, with Angela.
* [[First Law of Tragicomedies]]: While not completely unserious, the movie begins with a somewhat lighthearted /
* [[Flower Motifs]]: Roses and rose petals occur throughout the film, of the variety known as [[Meaningful Name|Rosa 'American Beauty']].
* [[Foregone Conclusion]]
* [[Go Out with a Smile]]
* [[Gory Discretion Shot]]: When Lester is killed.
* [[Have I Mentioned I Am Sexually Active Today?]]:
* [[The Hedonist]]: Lester Burnham, as he tries to find happiness in his dull life.
* [[Homage Shot]]: To ''[[Ordinary People]]'' during the dinner scene.
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* [[In Medias Res]]
* [[In the End You Are on Your Own]]: Carolyn spouts this at one point.
* [[
* [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]: Lester's reaction to discovering Carolyn and Buddy's affair.
* [[Karma Houdini]]: {{spoiler|Col. Fitts after murdering Lester.}}
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* [[Not What It Looks Like]]: Col. Fitts spies on Ricky and Lester getting high, but their unfortunate placement and movements make it look like something sexual from Col Fitts' POV.
* [[Object Tracking Shot]]: The famous "bag blowing in the wind" scene.
* [[Posthumous Character]]
* ...[[Posthumous Narration]]
* [[Power Hair]]: One of Carolyn Burnham's numerous ways of "projecting an image of success at all times."
* [[Punctuated!
** And a more subdued one: "Don't. Interrupt. Me. Honey."
** "That's. What. You. Think!"
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* [[Sexless Marriage]]: Lester and Carolyn. As Lester says it: "This hasn't been a marriage, for years, but you were happy as long as I kept my mouth shut. Well guess what, I've changed! And the new me whacks off when he feels horny, because you're obviously not gonna help me out in that department!"
* [[Shaking Her Hair Loose]]: When Jane strips for Ricky, she unties her hair before taking off her bra.
* [[Shout-Out]]
** Note also that Angela's surname (Hayes) is homophonous with [[Lolita]]'s surname (Haze).
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: The film provided much of the inspiration for ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'', with its [[Posthumous Narration]] and exploration of the darker side of suburbia.
** And it is itself arguably a [[Spiritual Successor]] of famous "middle-aged adultery" comedies as ''[[The Seven Year Itch]]'' and ''10'', albeit much darker than them.
** ''Little Children'' could be considered a unofficial [[Spiritual Successor]], as it shares the same theme of the dark root of suburbia, albeit with less [[Black Comedy]], and also is scored by Thomas Newman.
* [[Stalking Is Love]]: Played straight with Ricky, although he means no harm, and really does love Jane.
* [[Stepford Smiler]]: Carolyn. "See how those pruning shears match her gardening clogs? That's not an accident."
* [[Stepford Suburbia]]
▲* [[Straight Gay]]: The two Jims. {{spoiler|Col. Fitts, a raging homophobe who is actually deeply closeted, doesn't even realize they're gay at first.}}
* [[There Are No Therapists]]: Or marriage counselors, apparently.
* [[This Loser Is You]]: Lester.
* [[Took a Level
** [[Wham! Line|Wham Kiss]]:▼
▲* [[Wham! Line]]: {{spoiler|"This is my first time."}}
▲** [[Wham! Line|Wham Kiss]]
** In-universe but not really to the audience is Lester yelling "sit down!" when Jane tries to leave the dinner table. She and Carolyn are shocked that Lester actually raised his voice.
* [[Would Hurt a Child]]: Both Jane and Ricky get hit by their parents in the same scene with the other watching. Carolyn slaps Jane in a moment of rage while Colonel Fitz barges into Ricky's room to hit him for opening his private cabinet.
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{{reflist}}
{{Academy Award Best Picture}}
{{Golden Globe Award Best Motion Picture Drama}}
{{BAFTA Best Film}}
[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
[[Category:School Study Media]]
[[Category:American Beauty]]▼
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:Golden Globe Award]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
[[Category:BAFTA Award (Film)]]
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