It received numerous accolades the year it came out, and perhaps this is why there has been so much backlash towards American Beauty in the years since. I maintain that it is an excellent, excellent movie, one that predates American Psycho but shares many of its themes of self-misrepresentation and, more directly, the mistaken belief that the façade people wear is genuine.
Kevin Spacey is now exalted for his ability to command our attention after the way he occupies the screen in House of Cards, addressing the audience directly while we (I don’t think it’s just me?) sit and watch in riveted silence. But American Beauty was one of his first opportunities to lead a story the way he does here, and he knocks it out of the park, mixing cynical, mad-as-hell-and-not-going-to-take-it-anymore humor with authentic pathos and disillusionment. I appreciate the way the movie sympathizes with the characters, though, rather than vilifying them. The villain is society. Even though it’s more complicated than that.
It’s such a broad topic that “American” movies can really address any one of a wide range of defining characteristics of a country, perhaps of humanity, and by the simple trick of clever titling, will bring up questions of national identity. Whether it’s done to be tongue-in-cheek or more provocatively, it’s attention-grabbing. Or maybe it’s just to ensure that the movie gets placed close to the top of an alphabetized list.
Do you have any favorite “American” movies you think belong on this list? Share your picks in the comments section and be sure to check out the trailer for David O. Russell’s American Hustle below!
