Sam Mendes’ directorial debut is a killer. It’s a dark look at modern suburban life with some truly great performances and big laughs. Kevin Spacey, in his Oscar winning role, is Lester Burnham, an office worker who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter’s best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). The film has us rooting for him in his attempts to impress her while being completely oblivious to his wife’s affair and daughter’s relationship with his neighbor.
Watching “American Beauty”, one can easily see the film being made with the class of American cinema emerging in the late 50’s and early 60’s with it’s screwball antics and sexual perversity…though it would have been heavily censored like Stanley Kubrick’s similar outing “Lolita”. But the final act of the film revolves around some big comic misunderstandings one would get from the classic screwballs.
“American Beauty” was really the kind of film that was waiting to be made – fresh, bold and grounded in reality; the perfect blending of director, script and performance that will never come again.
Read more: http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2014/20-great-black-comedies-that-are-worth-your-time/3/#ixzz3utJTpymK