"American Beauty," Sam Mendes, Film Review
A series of film reviews where I give my comments on IMDB Top 250 films as a writer. The idea is that over time these posts will build into a wide-ranging writing resource.
For more details about the approach I've taken, including some important points about its strengths and weaknesses (I make no claims about my abilities as a film critic or even the accuracy of my comments... but I do stand by the value of a writer's notes on interesting films), see my introductory post here.
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
In 1999, Thora Birch was still a rising star
and American Beauty, as the first feature film directed by Sam
Mendes, appeared to be the beginning of a career by an exciting new director. God, it was good to be alive in those days...
Let's face it, American Beauty is a likeable and memorable
film. But it is also flawed in various
ways that you might or might not choose to overlook. Things start well, with that evocative piano
theme tune. And there are a bunch of
great lines and images that stick with you.
Some of my favourites include:
'Look Closer' (The sign on Spacey's desk)
'I will sell this house today'
'Fuck me, your majesty' – these last two from
the Annette Bening character.
'Have you got a minute?' 'For you, Brad, I've got five'
'I wanted to show my girlfriend your Nazi
plate, sir'
The cinematography is great throughout. And the theatrical lighting works really
well, such as when the Nazi dad approaches Spacey for a kiss, is rebuffed and
then fades perfectly into the darkness outside the garage.
On the negative side, it's impossible to
believe much of the plot. For example,
the scene where Spacey blags a year's severance pay and gets a job flipping
burgers. What happens after the
year? Plus in real life, the exit
interview would have had an HR suit present so that Spacey's trick simply wouldn't
have worked. This scene echoes the
similarly flawed job dismissal scene in Fight
Club.
And the neighbour is the world's most
unconvincing drug dealer.
And Mena Suvari's character could surely only
have been written by a middle-aged man.
A strength of the film is that every
character is seen sympathetically, even when they have vastly different world
views.
But the downside is that those sympathetic
views are often vilely sentimental and unrealistic. The neighbour's saintly mentally ill mother
is particularly unpleasant.
Somehow we have to balance the sympathetic
portrayal of Spacey's urge to return to the uncomplicated joys of childhood –
getting the car he always wanted and a remote controlled toy, smoking dope and
listening to Dad rock – with the hard-to-argue-with assessment of him from his
daughter as a 'lame-O,' a 'horny geek-boy who's gonna spray his shorts whenever
I bring a girlfriend home from school'.
This particular contradiction is quite enlightening, but overall there
is a slightly preachy message of fighting the system, throwing off the shackles
of middle class professional life and regaining the joys of childhood – and
when that message isn't backed up by realistic characterisation or events, it
descends into sentimentality.
The shots of suburban windowpanes made to
look like prison bars, the floating plastic bag, the petals, the creepy
neighbour with a camcorder – these are all iconic shots.
It's one
of those strange films that combine wonderful and awful elements. Mendes' subsequent films could have gone
either way based on the evidence of American
Beauty. Sadly, in my view, as
with Birch's later career, it was all downhill after this one.
Personal
Score: 6/10
