Actors - American Beauty

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	Actors - American Beauty

American Beauty is a 1999 drama film that explores themes of love, freedom, self-liberation, the search for happiness, and family against the backdrop of average modern American suburbia. Starring Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening and directed by English theatre director Sam Mendes, the film has received great critical acclaim since its release. In 1999 it won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Cast

Kevin Spacey
- Lester Burnham
Annette Bening
- Carolyn Burnham
Thora Birch
- Jane Burnham
Wes Bentley
- Ricky Fitts
Mena Suvari
- Angela Hayes
Peter Gallagher
- Buddy Kane
Allison Janney
- Barbara Fitts
Scott Bakula
- Jim Olmeyer
Sam Robards
- Jim Berkley
Chris Cooper
- Colonel Frank Fitts

Plot

The movie opens with scratchy camcorder footage of a teenage girl reclining on a bed, complaining about her father, who is boring, socially awkward, and a general embarrassment. A man off-camera, presumably the camcorder operator, asks, "You want me to kill him for you?" She thinks for a moment, and then says, "Yeah. Would you?"

The movie then begins again with Lester Burnham (Spacey), a 42-year-old father and advertising executive. His self-narration, however, comes from somewhere else than here: "In less than a year," he says to the audience, "I'll be dead. Of course, I don't know that yet. And in a way, I'm dead already." It soon becomes clear why: his family life is a mess. His wife Carolyn (Bening) is an ambitious, pretentious realtor with little on her mind but success: "My company sells an image. It's part of my job to live that image." His 16-year-old daughter Jane (Birch), clearly recognizable from the opening camcorder footage, is contemplating breast implants. They haven't spoken to each other for months. Lester himself is a self-described loser: boring, faceless and easy to forget. "I have lost something. ... But you know what? It's never too late to get it back."

Lester, his wife, and his daughter's typical life up to that point is outlined within a day (whose high point he describes to be masturbating in the shower); He goes to his job where he is soon confronted by his boss about writing a job description to find out who is expendable so that person can be fired. Carolyn attempts to sell a house to various couples while meeting rejection after rejection. Jane spends her days outside school with a superficial friend with feelings of insecurity. At the dinner table the somber mood is apparent with the "elevator music" courtesy of Carolyn, the strained communications, the moodiness of Jane, Lester's disregarded dilemma he tries to discuss, and Caroyln's dominance over things.

Lester's impetus for transforming himself from loser to winner is a classmate of Jane's: Angela Hayes (Suvari), a beautiful, confident and worldly girl with aspirations of being a model. "There's nothing worse in life than being ordinary." Lester meets her when he and Carolyn come to a basketball game to watch them cheerlead, and develops an immediate and obvious crush on her, much to Jane's embarrassment. That night, Jane finds someone videotaping her with a camcorder—a fact that secretly flatters her. When Jane has Angela stay for a sleepover, Lester overhears Angela saying she'd "totally fuck him" if he worked out, and immediately starts doing so.

The next morning we are introduced to the family that has just bought the vacant house next door: Col. Frank Fitts, USMC (Cooper), his wife Barbara (Janney) and son Ricky (Bentley). When confronted by the openly gay couple two houses over (Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley, Bakula and Robards respectively), Fitts shows distinctly bigoted attitude; Barbara spends entire days zoned out, and Ricky is making far more money than a high-schooler should. He is also revealed to be the person with the camcorder, and when he gets to school he approaches Jane and Angela with almost eerie confidence. "I'm not obsessing," he says, "I'm just curious."

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Actors - American Beauty

Cast

Plot

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