I remember experiencing the movie as a dark comedy exploring the emptiness at the heart of this man's life, precisely because it is built around these vacuous values and nothing else. He comes crashing up against the brick wall of the worthlessness of these American principles by which he has lived, and it leads to the slow inevitable wrecking of his and his familiy's life. I didn't see it as romanticizing this stuff at all; it was a painful two-hour sit among the awfulness and of it all and the claustrophobia of being unable to escape. Actually I fairly often have this experience with American movies: I watch them as a black comedy about the unfolding of implicit despair in a misconceived life, and admire the grim determination with which the filmmaker forces us to sit and suffer along; yet the reviewers all claim that the film is glamourizing and celebrating the same lifestyle that I see as being portrayed in colours of simmering horror. Another example would be The Wolf Of Wall Street, which I enjoyed for similar reasons. It came as a complete surprise to see that reviewers thought the film actually advertised that lifestyle as attractive. So I wonder: am I seeing things in American films that aren't there, or are the reviewers missing the appalled fixation of the filmmaker's stare? Do I project the existential desperation onto these movies or do the reviewers refuse to see it? Is there anything about these movies that glamourizes Lester Burnham or Jordan Belfort, other than the mere fact that these are movies and movies are reputed to be glamorous? I see disturbing explorations of the existential crisis we face when we finally realize pre-packaged morality can't help us, while reviewers seem to see straightforward celebrations of "bad men". Oh well, any movie that's this ambiguous can't be all bad.Because of its blissful ignorance, American Beauty is a movie our culture can no longer afford to lionize. It’s a beautifully directed movie that romanticizes some of our country’s biggest problems: disregard for class struggle, the commoditization of female bodies, and an exploitative obsession with youth.
...am I seeing things in American films that aren't there, or are the reviewers missing the appalled fixation of the filmmaker's stare? No, you're right. What the reviewer actually means is : "this film wouldn't be lionized in today's culture." The author's comment about it being being 'Lolita with a Humbert we're supposed to love' is a little dense, since, in the end, Lester becomes aware that he was trading values for a shallow fantasy. It's almost like they never saw the end or something.He comes crashing up against the brick wall of the worthlessness of these American principles by which he has lived, and it leads to the slow inevitable wrecking of his and his family's life.
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. Yes. Yes. 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. Welcome to the horrible world of marketing. 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. 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!
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.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.
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.
Lester says Charlotte makes him feel “like a prisoner,” but the movie doesn’t make it clear how.
This is pretty ironic for a movie that features her naked body on a poster with a tagline that reads, “Look closer.”
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.
Lester dies at the hands of an ultimately unnecessary character: a bigoted Marine who kissed Lester and liked it.
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.
Thank you for writing this so that I didn't have to. I agree with your points. I loved this film as a teenager as well but now I have a much deeper appreciation for it. While there are teenagers in the film, the themes are much more about adult relationships. My only criticism of the film is that it can be very difficult to watch, but this is because it's so damn good at conveying how dysfunctional a relationship, a family can be due to lack of communication and empathy. The crazy thing is that while some extraordinary things happen in the film, much of it isn't that much of a stretch... When witnessing the love between the daughter and her boyfriend, you can't help but think that the same fate awaits them that led to their parents dysfunctions. Scary stuff
Yeah it's really about how people can really internally change and yet because of previous circumstances be forced to live out a life they were not happy with and did not expect. The teens in the movie thought they were rebelling against their parents but really, they were simply doing the same thing as Lester and Carolyn trying to fill a void which they didn't understand. I could easily see them falling into the same traps.When witnessing the love between the daughter and her boyfriend, you can't help but think that the same fate awaits them that led to their parents dysfunctions. Scary stuff