I am going to start by saying, this is not my type of film. I like war, action, violence, horror. Just looking at the cover I thought this was a chick movie. I was wrong. Not what I expected at all. Really really good film. Very funny. Scary in places.
A friend of mine told me to watch this film and although I’d never normally watch something like this it had such a massive impact I am back on here reviewing it. I watched it with my teenage sons which was fine, they found it funny and could definitely relate, one who loves Lady Gaga. She’s not in the movie but one character has a little Gaga about her, also why a Star is Born was snapped alongside. We watched the Sweeney afterwards which is another movie I’d definitely recommend. Much more my genre, crime, violence and an epic car chase.
American Beauty whilst it does have sex and violence those elements are subtle. It’s basically about a guy who has a midlife crisis, me and so many others too, played by Kevin Spacey who gets his mojo back. He has had the same job for 14 years, the ad agency isn’t that important except we’ve all had a boss like “Brad”. He’s living in a city suburb, also me, on a street with a wife, Carolyn, an estate agent he’s lost complete touch with somewhere along the way. The only thing holding the marriage together is their daughter Jane, trying to navigate puberty who forms a weird yet refreshing friendship with new neighbour Ricky next door a couple of years older. Ricky has a tyrannical ex military father who collects Nazi memorabilia and guns, plot twist, Frank (Chris Cooper) and a basket case mother Barbara (Alison Janney). It’s the weirdness of the characters that build a story you literally become entangled in. Pretty much because it’s most people to some extent or other.
For anyone enduring a difficult marriage that once was good but now just isn’t this film may be a difficult watch, anyone having an affair to get through it, could just push you over the edge but recently separated/divorced and maybe struggling a bit, this film will definitely shine an amusing light on what has been left behind.
The cast and characters make this film, all living and working in close proximity, it could be any group of people on any street. The script which won Alan Ball the Oscar for best original screenplay has some laugh out loud funny lines, cutting and dark around a pretty tragic subject that so many people go through and can relate to, the mid life crisis. It may be a corny turn of phrase but it’s something most people I know in their forties, especially men, my mates even if they don’t share, (sorry guys if you are reading this) haven’t escaped. Take the hint watch the film.
Lester Burnham (Spacey) begins to make a stand, quits his job, starts working out, starts buying pot from Ricky, the next door neighbour and Jane his daughter’s love interest unbeknownst to her, things also start to change for Carolyn subtly played by Annette Benning his neurotic people pleasing wife. It’s the best portrayal I’ve ever seen in a film of a woman clinging on to her sanity, the mask so layered when it starts cracking the crevasse left is like an artic glacier breaking away. She didn’t scoop the Oscar for the role beaten out by Hilary swank for Boys don’t cry but the Brits didn’t agree and she did take the BAFTA for best actress.
When she’s bonking Buddy Kane, the King of Realty, a cheesy local real estate agent in an even cheesier roadside motel, the cut prior is his car number plate parked outside “B. KING” him asking if she likes getting nailed by the king, and her screaming “on yes I love it, fuck me your majesty” it’s one of the funniest movie moments of all time for me.
The comedy is very dark, Lester narrates the story and as Lester wanks off in the shower he talks about it being the highlight of his day, things will go progressively downhill from there he says. Another moment I secretly related to. I told myself I’ve got to get a grip and stop wallowing myself. He fantasises about sex with Jane’s best friend, Angela an aspiring model who enjoys male attention from every angle and enjoys rolling her eyes at Lester and laughing about it with Jane who becomes progressively more mortified by her parents and their crumbling relationship. Not that I’ve crossed any lines with my kids friends but guys might cringe a bit if they’ve fantasised about the baby sitter.
Lester trades in his car for a sports car and gets a job in the local burger joint, he begins to feel completely empowered no longer being passive in what is clearly a very bad and broken marriage.
Ricky and Jane gravitate together. Ricky has his own problems at home, Colonol Frank Fitts, an ex military bully boy who has some really dark issues “denial is a powerful thing” says Ricky as he sells Lester the best pot available manufactured by the US government for $2000 a bag. A keen videographer his father thinks he has purchased all his high tech equipment from his weekend catering jobs and is subjecting him to six monthly urine tests, samples he is getting in trade from a client who is a paediatric nurse.
And the plot thickens, the story of the characters intersect in a way you’d never imagine. The film opens with one line which gives the game away but never prepares you for what is actually going to happen. They say in the North, nowt so queer as folk and that could be the tagline for this film.
You just got to watch it. It is a bloody good film.