American Beauty (1999)

I have recently started watching House of Cards on Netflix, and now I am on a Kevin Spacey kick. I never realized how talented an actor he is, which is probably because I haven’t seen many of his movies. American Beauty did not disappoint me as far as Kevin Spacey awesomeness is concerned. He plays a frustrated man going through a midlife crisis perfectly, and Annette Benning as his equally crazy wife is also an entertaining performance.

There were many more levels to this movie than I thought there would be, such as the unique relationship between the daughter Jane and the new neighbor kid, Ricky. Ricky is the kind of character that proves that there is a very fine line between romantic and creepy. I haven’t seen much of Wes Bentley either, but his performance as Ricky was really moving, especially during the plastic bag scene.

The writing is captivating and there was no point in this film that I was bored. There were a few awkward, uncomfortable parts, however, that would prevent me from watching it too many times. Getting into the heads of the weirdest, most desperate minds of humanity isn’t really how I want to spend a lot of my time. I could definitely see myself rewatching it some time the future, however, and its no wonder that this film is a classic.

IMDb Rating 8/10