I still like American Beauty. It's unfair to call a movie bad because a person doesn't like the characters in it. Would the critic also be willing to submit that "There will be Blood" is a bad movie all of the characters in that are despicable humans.

Lester is the same exploitative, violent, manipulative abuser as his namesake, but he comes in a different package. This time, Humbert Humbert is an idealistic baby boomer.

Yes.

He’s obsessed with youth, but would rather feed off of it than try to understand it. He’s mad at the system, but doesn’t realize he’s now part of it. To Lester, “the system” is mostly his wife, Carolyn.

Yes.

Lester says Charlotte makes him feel “like a prisoner,” but the movie doesn’t make it clear how.

Charlotte wants things to be exquisite all the time, Lester feels like a prisoner because his wife wants things from him he doesn't feel he can provide. This isn't a defense of Lester, but the movie clearly laid out why he felt trapped.

This is pretty ironic for a movie that features her naked body on a poster with a tagline that reads, “Look closer.”

Welcome to the horrible world of marketing.

We eventually find out that Jane and Ricky are joking, but not before he turns off the camera. In a better-written movie, this tape would end up in evidence after Lester’s murder.

What no! That would be horrible! Why are you suggesting a change to the ending? Although I do not particularly enjoy open ended movies because it's a bit of a troupe at this point, this would in no way move the narrative of the story. The story is not about Lester's murder it is about Lester not being able to figure out that he has everything he wants, but he needs to quit being an asshole about it.

Lester dies at the hands of an ultimately unnecessary character: a bigoted Marine who kissed Lester and liked it.

WRONG arg! Did the reviewer WATCH the movie? Like really WATCH it? The "bigoted Marine" ( Colonel Fitts ) thinks his son is gay because he sees him rolling a joint for Lester through a window and it makes it look like Lester is receiving a blowjob in exchange for money.

Fitts, now angry and confused wants to figure out why his son acts like this, kisses Lester after stalking him to which Lester replies "It's not like that". Fitts kills Lester because he thinks Lester is simply corrupting his son. It has nothing to do with whether he liked it or not!

Don’t worry about what the world will look like after you die. You’ll be happy if you help yourself — not the people who need you.

Seriously? That's all the reviewer got from this?! Not that "Lester was never happy and he was never going to be happy because he was constantly chasing after an impossible ideal" I feel like we watched two different movies.