***SPOILER ALERT***

I’ve watched American Beauty before, but it was many years ago when I watched it for the first time. Probably right around the time I started watching R-rated movies in my early twenties.

I re-watched it recently as I’m watching the Classics curated by Turner Classic Movies on HBO Max.

Too bad Kevin Spacey had to come out as being a predator and creeper himself in real life. A shame, as he is a great actor. Maybe a little too convincing? Sometimes it seems those who act best may be living parallel stories in reality.

What is the point of American Beauty?

In American Beauty, the main character, Lester Burnham, has an infatuation with his daughter’s friend — but can’t the obsession be interchanged and replaced with something else, for each of us? 

For Lester, he may have been obsessed with Angela Hayes, but for others, their infatuations can be vast in the ways they pull partners from lovers; spending too much time on hobbies, thinking there are greener pastures and more. Throughout all lives, I think all people become bored at times with the mundane and then fixate on random objects or feelings until they come to a possible point of destruction.

I know in my life, the times when I’ve decided to make my choices based solely on passion and have acted on impulse, not everything has gone well. A lens of wisdom may be the best way to temper choices for a more balanced outcome.

Who killed Lester in American Beauty?

I think it had to be Colonel Frank Fitts.

Is American Beauty worth watching?

If you’re comfortable with a movie that has an overall foreboding, creepy, incestuous feeling, then American Beauty will be right up your alley, and I think, worth watching. Are the acts in the movie acceptable? Absolutely not. The acting is impeccable and gives a slow-burn take on what it means to be human in a complicated world influenced by culture, sex, relationships, and the passing of time.