American Beauty

On a first viewing, it is an original film experience that delivers a probe into the American middle class presented in an unconventional and unique way. However, I believe that with each subsequent viewing, the viewer's satisfaction is slightly undermined, and the resulting product seems weaker and weaker. Sam Mendes has a sensitive and diligent direction, emphasizing details, and the screenplay is excellently developed, especially when it comes to the characters. Nevertheless, the whole thing seems too polished and meticulously arranged to me. It's as if with this film, Mendes wanted to say “I am a true artist, look at me.” (11/13/2005)

Along with Fight Club, this is my most personal film. While Fight Club flows mainly in terms of thought-provoking ideas, American Beauty scores with its emotions. The first time I saw it in my freshman year of high school, it hit me hard for weeks, something that also happened every other time I watched it. It has a slightly different effect on me nowadays. It no longer attacks the basic feelings of excessive affiliation with the characters (which may change when I’m forty), but as a perfect portrait of people who decided to defy convention, it still entertains me and still stirs emotions within me. There’s no point in bringing up the well-known names (Spacey, Conrad L. Hall, Mendes), but I will add the neglected (Cooper, the great game with the light at night) and add that this is one of the absolute "best films" I have ever seen. (09/03/2009)

I've seen this film many times (and probably will many more times :)), however I'm only writing this review now. The reason is the same as with The Dark Knight (I understand that this "comparison" may seem a bit bizarre at first glance.)) – I consider American Beauty to be a perfect film that I love because of one rather significant thing, and that is that those less than two hours of storytelling by Sam Mendes and Alan Ball absolutely got me and got to me. Mendes' directorial skill is evident from the very first minutes as he gradually introduces the viewer to that advertisement for a happy marriage, and also to the fact that many things in human life are one big absurdity that will one day come to an equally absurd end... I really don't know what to single out first – Kevin Spacey's acting, Alan Ball's brilliant screenplay and Sam Mendes' equally brilliant direction, Thomas Newman's beautiful score, or the performances of the other actors involved. American Beauty is a wonderful film, even if it is actually a rather scathing critique of America itself. :) (10/30/2010)

When I see all the reviews, I feel like I'm going against the grain. American Beauty didn’t impress me much (Sam Mendes has certainly done better work). I don’t know why, but all the characters seemed extremely caricatured to me. Their different personality traits were pushed to the absolute extreme, making it feel unrealistic (especially the whole suburban family). I don’t want to undermine the effort of everyone involved. Especially Kevin Spacey (who seemed more realistically portrayed compared to the others) clearly enjoyed his role, and at its best moments, it reminded me of Falling Down with Douglas (forget societal conventions... just do whatever comes to mind). From a filmmaking perspective, I have no complaints; Mendes knows his craft, but as I said, those characters... Otherwise, the ending was absolutely perfect, and it pushed the film to a 4-star rating. For me, it gets a 7/10. (07/24/2023)

American Beauty became a huge hit when it came out in the United States, captivating both audiences and critics alike. It is considered by many to be the best American film of the 90s. Despite being Sam Mendes' first major film, it is surprisingly mature, skillfully crafted, and showcases his theater experience and talent for casting and directing actors. On the other hand, I never had the feeling that I was watching a great film. I got the impression that it was gliding on the surface, without going deep into the roots of behavior or showing the causes of events. Instead, it creates somewhat stereotypical caricatures instead of fully developed characters. It doesn't present any solutions, and all the characters behave conventionally, with their rebellion being completely harmless and stemming from morally debatable positions. Despite all this, it is still one of the significantly better films created in the 90s, and it is worth seeing. Overall impression: 80%. (07/02/2007)