Reviews

This is exacerbated by the fact that Ricky's dad kills Lester seemingly not because his middle-aged neighbor was having sexual relations with his teenage son, but because he rejected him sexually.

Then there's his dad the marine dude (Chris Cooper) he's obsessed with control and maybe obsessed with being or not being gay.

Of course, it becomes less of a mystery when we meet Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) the slightly disturbed teenager next door who is the son of a former army colonel (Chris Cooper) who becomes obsessed with Jane.

I was obviously too young to understand all of the subtlety of what was going on and some things naturally came across as 'strange', but all in all the uniqueness and beauty of the film touched me.

Something about the juxtaposition between those opening lines and what we know from that, and Lester's emotional ascent lends the film a blackly comic atmosphere, something made only better by an excellent soundtrack and a sleek visual style.

All round there are many great performances in the film but none better than Kevin Spacey in perhaps his best performance as an actor who portrays Lester Burnham perfectly as a man who seeks happiness once again in his life.

Sam Mendes American Beauty tells the story of Lester Burnham who is experiencing a mid life crisis until one day he decides to turn his life around, which turns everyone elses life upside down.

Always gets me to think about it's characters , the kids are the ones I have the hardest time relating to : but being unable to comprehend them is also a good point for this interesting film.