MovieChat Forums > American Beauty (1999) Discussion > Film hits dead end

Film hits dead end

posted 4 years ago by Sidha108 (2688)
4 replies | jump to latest

I’ve seen this movie several times in my life and consider it to be one of my favorites of all time. I watched it a lot in high school and college and probably about once or twice every year or two since. However upon my most recent rewatch, I noticed that the film sort of comes to a halt at about the moment right after Lester quits his job and doesn’t really pick up again until the scene when he’s jogging listening to “The Seeker” by The Who. The section of the movie is still good but the focus is less on Lester and the energy built up earlier seems to slow down. Anyone else feel that way about that part of the 2nd act?

[–] Seperatrix (1234) 4 years ago

Not so much for me. But as it happens I just rewatched the film last night for the first time in 3 or more years and certain lines in the film stood out as clunkers. One for example: When Ricky explains to Jane something along the lines of "I filmed a homeless woman frozen to death once." Followed by "She looked really sad."

I cringed.

[–] BourbonKing (5778) 4 years ago

I really liked this movie when it came out and even considered it a profound cinematic revelation. Then I saw it again in 2009 and after ten years I questioned my initial reaction as I found a lot aspects of the movie rather trite and narratively dishonest.

When the movie ends with Lester's post-mortem soliloquy about life not adding up to anything I just felt like I was watching some self-loathing Boomer who resents the reality of getting old and dying. It's not really that profound at all.

[–] spurtle467 (1549) 4 years ago

I used to really like this film too. In fact it was one of my favourite movies around the early 2000's.

Now I might not even place it in my top 100. It does not do well under re-watches as you grow older and I hear this a lot from people who used to like it. It comes across as being pretentious and the characters are very unrelatable and unlikeable to me. Not that it is without its merits as the score and the cinematography are still very good.

[–] BourbonKing (5778) 4 years ago

Yeah, I went from rooting for Lester as he rejected society and even illegally lusting for his daughter's hot girlfriend who had her own issues to feeling contempt for his selfish behavior. I also noticed how I overlooked Annette Bening's 2 Dimensional character. While she does capture some truthful aspects of career-centric adult women she was more cartoonish in her execution. It's too bad because she actually has the acting chops to convey the internalized pain while externalizing a chipper facade. I think that's more on the writer/director. The same can be said for many of the supporting actors who end up looking more like caricatures from Peter Gallagher and Allison Janney to Chris Cooper and Scott Bakula.