American Beauty: Difference between revisions

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* '''Jane Burnham''' ([[Thora Birch]]), their daughter of sixteen years. "Janie's a pretty typical teenager: angry, insecure, confused. I wish I could tell her that's all going to pass... but I don't want to lie to her." She resents the way her father has begun to withdraw from her, and, in the very first scene of the movie, takes someone up on an offer to murder him.

* '''Angela Hayes''' (Mena Suvari), who is on the cheerleading team with Jane and quickly becomes the object of Lester's fantasies, causing him to start an intensive work-out regimen in an attempt to seduce her. She acts more worldly and [[Really Gets Around|experienced]] than Jane, and isn't afraid to use her body to advantage: "If people I don't even know look at me and want to fuck me, it means... I really have a shot at being a model!"

* '''Ricky Fitts''' (Wes Bentley), the new next-door neighbor to the Burnhams and Jane's eventual love interest. He is a weird combination of [[Stalker ~~With~~ a Crush]], [[Cloudcuckoolander]] and [[Shrouded in Myth]] (in regards to where he was before he moved here), and [[Only Sane Man|sees more clearly]] than anyone else in the cast. He is an experienced dealer of marijuana, becoming Lester's supplier, and carries a video camera everywhere to record interesting moments out of his life. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just think you're interesting."

* '''Ricky Fitts''' (Wes Bentley), the new next-door neighbor to the Burnhams and Jane's eventual love interest. He is a weird combination of [[Stalker with a Crush]], [[Cloudcuckoolander]] and [[Shrouded in Myth]] (in regards to where he was before he moved here), and [[Only Sane Man|sees more clearly]] than anyone else in the cast. He is an experienced dealer of marijuana, becoming Lester's supplier, and carries a video camera everywhere to record interesting moments out of his life. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just think you're interesting."

* '''Buddy Kane''' (Peter Gallagher), Carolyn's main business rival, the self-styled "King of Real Estate." He's powerful, success-minded, has enormously charismatic eyebrows, and appeals to her [[Stepford Smiler]] instincts: "In order to be successful, one must project an image of success at all times." Eventually, the two of them start an affair. He also introduces Carolyn to the shooting range, where she picks up a Smith & Wesson once owned by a man named [[Chekhov's Gun|Chekhov]]...

* '''Col. Frank Fitts, [[Semper Fi|USMC]]''' (Chris Cooper), a now-inactive Marine who fought in Vietnam. He's trying to raise Ricky in his own image ("[[Catch Phrase|You need structure... you need discipline]]"), which is meeting with limited success. [[Establishing Character Moment|He's also a flaming homophobe]].

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* [[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.

* [[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}}.

* [[All Guys Want Cheerleaders]]: Played straight with Lester's attraction to Angela, and subverted by Ricky's attitude towards her. Double subverted then since Jane is also a cheerleader (although not a stereotypically blonde one).

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* [[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]]:

* [[A Date with Rosie Palms]]:

{{quote| '''Lester''': "Look at me, jerking off in the shower... This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here."}}

** His wife also catches him in bed. "Lester, are you masturbating?!"

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* [[Informed Ability]]: Ricky says Jane is interesting, as opposed to Angela who is boring and "totally ordinary", though while onscreen, Angela's character, an aspiring model, is much more day-seizing and dynamic (or at least her stories are) than Jane who mostly just complains about her parents or serves as an audience/conversation partner for Ricky. Possibly justified in that he is a teen, so someone who will listen to him express his viewpoints is probably pretty interesting. Also, when he calls Angela boring, he also calls her ugly, so he may just have been acting spitefully then.

** He was acting spitefully because Angela's line before that was "Yeah, well at least I'm not ugly."

** He probably meant "[[True Beauty Is On the Inside|ugly on the inside]]" rather than ''literally'' ugly.

** He probably meant "[[True Beauty Is on the Inside|ugly on the inside]]" rather than ''literally'' ugly.

* [[In Medias Res]]

* [[In the End You Are On Your Own]]: Carolyn spouts this at one point.

* [[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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* [[What Could Have Been]]: The screenwriter, Alan Ball, originally wrote ''American Beauty'' for the stage, and in early drafts of the script, there was a prologue and epilogue in which Ricky and Jane are {{spoiler|framed for and}} convicted of Lester's murder.

** Chevy Chase and Jeff Daniels were two initial choices for the role of Lester.

** [[~~Terry Gilliam (Creator)|~~Terry Gilliam]] also turned down the offer to direct this movie.

** [[Terry Gilliam]] also turned down the offer to direct this movie.

* [[Wham! Line]]: {{spoiler|"This is my first time."}}

** [[Wham! Line|Wham Kiss]]