American Beauty: how can anyoen love such a terrible movie?

This movie was horrible. But yet when i mention that it got oscars over Green Mile (dont know how it got those.. must have been monkeys voting).. people say they loved it.





Can anyone name 1 good thing about that movie? and dont tell me the scene where3 the lilies fall on the woman.





I want a real reason this movie is considered good.





I thought it was the worst movie i had ever seen now next to Miami Vice.








Oh and add to that fact, that Not a single Kevin Spacey film in 10 years has been very appealing to me either. and he has done several.. first one i hated was LA Confidential. then all those weird sci-fi's he did.

American Beauty: how can anyoen love such a terrible movie?
Mina Suvari
Reply:This dark, tragi-comedy is beautifully shot and eloquently told. If you dislike it, surely it's not your kinda movie. It's alright.





I did not like Green Mile, though I agree it's beautifully shot, because I felt it to be sadist beyond redemption.





The same you can say of the other, but one appeals to you and the other to me.
Reply:i did not enjoy the movie 'The Green Mile', it did not live up to my expectations one bit, i think that was because i had read the books and had really enjoyed them. and i still think most of tom hanks' best movies are his comedies, i.e. 'Bachelor Party'. on the other hand i did enjoy 'American Beauty' and Kevin Spacey's 'falling to pieces' character and his ogling and obsessing over mina suvari. and i did see the message and outlook on life it was trying to get across to the viewers, mainly that life is not what it seems or appears to be. being happy is knowing what TRULY makes you happy deep, down in your heart %26amp; soul.





i assume you saw it on tv this weekend for the first time, i would suggest renting it or borrowing it from a friend and watching it all the way thru without the tv editing and commercial breaks... you can never seem to get into a movie on television
Reply:Well, I've never seen 'American Beauty' for the reason that it DID win The Oscar that year so I figured it would probally suck. Same reason I wasn't gonna watch 'Million Dollar Baby', but I accidently ended up watch MDB 2 weeks ago and DAMN! it was NOT what I was expecting. It was indeed worthy of The Oscar! Just still can't get myself to watch AB or 'The Piano' oscar-winning movie either... yuck!
Reply:i thought it to be quite clever, also the naked girl with rose pedals was cool
Reply:It took me a really long time to "get" this movie, too. I coundn't understand it at all, but I caught it on TV about a year ago and I finally did.





American Beauty is a type of rose. Hence the rose petals falling (not lilies, dearie) on the woman. Except, she isn't a woman, she's a girl, his daughters friend. He gets a crush on her, and begins to work on himself to make himself appear more attactive to her. This "mid-life" crisis leads to his own journey of self discovery and affects the live of his family and neighbours. Mainly, his wife and his daughter.





The moral of the story is that while he was attracted to this girl, she wasn't the fantasy he had envisioned. She was another girl like his wife had once been and what his daughter had become. And in his quest for her, this ideal, he had found the best parts of himself and found the love and beauty in his own heart that he hadn't seen before.





It really is a good film, but I agree that it isn't the best one ever made. And I'm also not a big Kevin Spacey fan either.





Maybe someday you might have a chance to view it again, like I did. Most likely not though. It really sounds like you've made up your mind on this one.





The real reason why I thought it was good at all is that it made me examine my own notions about what love and adulthood are, and the paradox of youth wishing for wisdom, and the adults yearning youth. Like Kevin Spacey "yearned" for was not what he really wanted or needed.
Reply:Are you sure you don't just have an aversion to Kevin Spacey in general? I love all his movies, including American Beauty. You either get it or you don't................





HTH : )
Reply:Movies are not only for entertainment value. This film shows the true façade that the American family puts up under the pressures of society to be perfect. Kevin Spacey undergoes a mid-life crisis, and because of that, truly sees what life is and that it is meant to be lived. He starts living his life...seeing things for what they are. He stops living a lie, while everyone else around him is in some way screwed up and trying to cover it up. This film, while more provocative, is truly more compelling than The Green Mile, a story that has been told time and time again. That's just me maybe, but generally Oscars are given to those films that are deep, so maybe you're just not seeing the deeper meaning behind it.
Reply:I agree with you completely!
Reply:They werent lillies peddels,they were rose peddels. If your a healthy male,with any kind of a sex drive that scene is great. The kind of feeling YOU get when your 2 meal-deals are passed to you through the window at the drive through. Get it?
Reply:it is not your type of movie ...





my friend loves it, I think it is ok. Not a bad movie at all, but not my favorite.
Reply:Simply, it is honest. You don't even have to relate to the guy; you just have to accept that he is telling you his point of view. He is undergoing a bizarre metamorphosis as a person. A midlife crisis that often beats people into the ground actually motivated him to change his station in life.


Not something that one could morally condone, his infatuation with the daughter's friend, but he proves that he doesn't need to have it all by saying "no" to her at the end.





There is no accounting for taste, either. I have a girlfriend that once adored Kevin Spacey, until she saw him in American Beauty, and then thought him to be a monster.


You can't defend his behaviour, nor should you, but it was a role he chose. Allowing a glimpse into his perception of life and what he wants out of it, followed by his methods to pursue these goals.


Perhaps Glengarry Glen Ross might be the one Spacey movie you could appreciate, but it seems to me that he is tainted in your eyes.
Reply:I totally like it's one of my favs da problem is it's not ur type that's all.
Reply:Green Mile was terrible! 3 hours that felt like 15. Trite and slow.





American Beauty was an excellent movie, as was LA Confidential. I don't want to be insulting, so I will just leave it there.
Reply:Here's your answer - Kevin Spacey



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