American Beauty-Yeah, It Actually Is Kind of Beautiful
1999, doesn't seem like that long ago, but in Hollywood it might as well be 25 years. American Beauty, which is no doubt a fantastic film, was completed for about $20-$25 million dollars, today this film might cost $50-$60 million or more. Case in point look at a recent release like Lady in the Water, whose budget might have been as high as a whopping $75 million dollars. Slowly but quite certainly, Hollywood is pricing itself out of business. Another point in this direction the likely $250 million dollar budget for Superman Returns. When combined with perhaps a $50 million dollar advertising campaign means that a big-budget film like Superman Sort of Returns needs to pull in $300 million to break even.
This is obviously, part of the reason, Hollywood is scared to death to take a risk on something original, thus the executives in Hollywood have created their own trap. A major element of American Beauty's success was that it felt different, even if the heart of the story was familiar, namely a older man with a mid-life crisis longing after a young beautiful woman. American Beauty is fantastic in that it proves that a great film can be produced, even by Hollywood's increasingly silly budgetary standards, with a modest budget. American Beauty could have been produced as an real independent film for probably a couple of hundred thousand dollars using high-definition and a little bit of creativity and the end result could have been fairly similar.
Kevin Spacey turns in yet another stellar performance as 40 something Lester whose Midwestern existence seems lifeless until he meets his daughters friend Angela, played very well by Mena Suvari. Lester simply can not get Angela out of his mind and some of the films dream sequences are quite striking and possess a visual resonance. What gives this story its true power is that the interplay between Angela and Lester, whose ultimate outcome will shock and surprise most audience members. Angela is a great motivator for Lester, but turns out not to be the exact person Lester had created in his fantasies, no its not a Crying Game ending. The simple premise is full of quirky bits and an abundance of twists and turns. Like so many successful films, especially those without the benefit of massive explosions and the like, American Beauty works due to the strength of its well-crafted and creative script, consistent and well executed acting performances and competent production values.
The true driving force behind American Beauty is the focused, polished script by Alan Ball, who later went on do some amazing work on television's Six Feet Under. This in no way takes away from the great direction by Sam Mendes as American Beauty clearly would not have been the success without the creativity he infused into the every frame of the film. American Beauty is a a clear cut example of how to construct a innovative and engrossing script and is worthy of study by independent filmmakers and seasoned pros alike.
Story A+
Acting A+
Visuals A
Originality/Innovation A
Enjoyability Grade A+
Home Theater/HD Factor A
Overall Grade A+
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