American Beauty

Rating ****/*****, or 8/10

Poetic and slow paced but ingenious and witty comedy about the Burnham family, stuck in the typical conventions of the dreary middle-class suburban life style. The father (Kevin Spacey in an unforgettable role that rightly won him an Academy Award) one day decides to rebel against society's suffocating rules when he falls in love with his teenage daughter's girl friend and starts living his life exactly like he wants to, much to the dismay of his wife (Annette Bening). Of course, such a selfish way of living comes with a price. A great cast of other respectable actors in wonderfully off-beat roles – including Wes Bentley as a teenager who videotapes every little aspect of everyday life, Chris Cooper as his ultra-conservative army dad and Thora Birch posing as a sexually aggressive girl who turns out to be a virgin – completes this very funny but also at times quite tragic film, courtesy of Sam Mendes in his directorial breakthrough (which got him an Oscar too).

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch

Directed by Sam Mendes

USA: Dreamworks SKG, 1999