American Beauty

Title: American Beauty (1999)
Director: Sam Mendes
Genre: Drama
Lead Actor(s): Kevin Spacey
Rating: R
122 minutes

I just watched this again in my film lecture class. It told me a lot about the people around me who were watching and specifically made me want to deck the guy behind me who muttered “faggot” under his breath, but he was a very large guy and I am not. The movie follows the last section of Lester Burnham’s (Kevin Spacey) life. He wakes up one morning and realizes just how dead he has been and how much his daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), and his wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), hate him. After meeting Jane’s friend, Angela (Mena Suvari), Lester begins fantasizing about her and changing the dull rut his life has settled into to.

Kevin Spacey is as good as he usually is. His best moment is toward the end when Lester realizes that he is happy. He makes the progression from catatonic cubicle occupant to happy free hamburger flipper. The shift is evident in every aspect of Spacey’s performance. His posture changes; his speed of speech changes; his speech pattern changes; his gait changes. Spacey as Lester becomes a whole new person.

To be completely honest, I have never been an Annette Bening fan. She isn’t someone whose acting makes me want to throw molotov cocktails at the screen (Keanu Reeves), but I have never found her to be just spectacular. Here she is good. I think she is often overshadowed by the superbness of Spacey’s acting. She definitely adds some much needed comedy and is a decent foil for Lester. I just am always wanting a little more from her.

The last actor I am going to discuss, simply due to not wanting to write a 1,000 word review on a movie that has been out for over 10 years, is Chris Cooper as Jane’s boyfriend’s Dad. He is Colonel Frank Fitts, US Marine Corps. He holds his household in an iron grip. Things must happen on his terms and in his definitions. Cooper is both frightening and heart-breaking in the role. In 1999 Michael Caine, Tom Cruise, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jude Law, and Haley Joel Osment were up for Best Supporting Actor. In my opinion, Cooper was better than Cruise, Law, and Osment and at least on par with Caine and Duncan.

Sam Mendes wants the viewer to be aware that someone is directing this movie. Sometimes these intrusive directing styles can steal subtlety from the film and make it a lesser movie. Luckily, this is not one of those cases. Mendes in conjunction with the cinematographer, Conrad Hall, work the camera in magnificent ways. The way the shots are framed and the angles the actors are filmed at elevate the characterizations and impact. Some of the most interesting camera work is when we are seeing Jane’s boyfriend, Ricky’s (Wes Bentley), hand-filmed footage. It has a much more raw and honest element about it. Those feelings map on to the relationship between Ricky and Jane and their association to the rest of the characters.

The final brilliant enhancement is the score by Thomas Newman. Particularly in Lester’s fantasies, the score situates the viewer into the mindset needed for the scene. As with the directing, this is not a subtle, shy score. It is wonderfully intrusive for the audience. With someone who did not fully understand the theme and evolution of the film, the score could have ended up like The Krays, where I had the strongest desire to simply mute the entire movie and read the subtitles. Instead it teases the viewer into the head of Lester Burnham.

All these enhancements and strong performances would be useless if the script were not of the quality that it was. Alan Ball is the screenwriter and his eerie understanding of the death of personality that can exist in the suburbs make this movie what it is. The subject matter could have slipped easily into a vulgar and disturbing movie, but Ball knew where to take the story to and stop. The script also has the style of dialogue that Ball has quickly been known for. Ball’s idea is the strong foundation that this film is built from.

Well I made it to just over 700 words. Sometimes I don’t know when to shut up. This movie has so many levels of complexity while still maintaining a sense of reality. If that reality were missing, this could slip into Christopher Nolan’s style. Instead what makes it so strong is the strong anchor it has in its realism. Annette Bening and Mena Suvari are good in their parts. The rest of the cast is great. Mendes, Ball, and Newman take this movie to the most extreme they can before drawing back to avoid a caricature. At the basest level, this is a story about a man coming alive again and this movie wonderfully succeeds.

********** 10/10

The Bachelor

Title: The Bachelor (1999)
Director: Gary Sinyor
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Lead Actor(s): Renee Zellweger, Chris O’Donnell
Rating: PG-13
101 minutes

This is an example of a romantic comedy I hate. The plot centers around Jimmie Shannon (Chris O’Donnell). He is a 29-year-old commitaphobe. He finally decides to settle down with his girlfriend, Anne (Renee Zellweger), and botches the proposal. Anne decides to leave and Jimmie’s grandfather dies leaving Jimmie $100 million inheritance on the condition that he is married by his 30th birthday, which happens to be the next day. Jimmie catches Anne as she is about to get on a plan and again lets his fear of commitment get between him and his inheritance.

O’Donnell is stiff and awkward in a stiff and awkward character. None of the delivery was believable and at times it was almost painful to watch. He never connected with the character and I can’t blame him. If I had a character like this, I would have tried very hard not to connect with it.

Zellweger is trying to recreate the character she had in Jerry Maguire. This character is not as well written or similar in style. This doesn’t stop her from barreling through like it is. I can’t think of a single scene that has an original feel to it.

This is an awful movie. The plot is insulting. The acting is atrocious. The only redeemable thing is that in a scene toward the end, the secret of the inheritance gets out and brides in dresses chase Jimmie down the street. A good portion of these brides are men in drag. This movie gets a bonus point for that aspect. Otherwise it would be a 1.

** 2/10

Election

Title: Election (1999)
Director: Alexander Payne
Genre: Comedy
Lead Actor(s): Reese Witherspoon, Matthew Broderick
Rating: R
103 minutes

This is a great dark comedy. Everything in Matthew Broderick’s life goes wrong, some because of his own action and some because of external action. This movie is basically about scandal in a high school presidency election. Usually I am a bit weary of Matthew Broderick. I think he over does it most of the time in a way less efficient than Robin Williams. Oddly in this movie his camera mugging instead adds to the character. His character is the teacher who tries too hard to be liked.

Reese Witherspoon is wonderfully zealous as Tracy Flick, the type of girl who has her fingers in everything and only because of how it will look on her college applications. Her manner of speaking is utterly perfect for those annoying do-it-alls. You fully believe that given enough time Tracy could take over the world. The scene where after trying to fix one of her posters, she goes on a path of destruction is fantastically satisfying. The audience likes to see the usually put together Tracy go crazy.

The editing of the movie is especially nice. The way the camera focuses on Mr. McAllister’s swollen eye, his scenes of school spirit, the way it captures the moments that Tracy’s face is most contorted, all enhance the characters without feeling over done. I love the director’s use of the “Theme from Navajo Joe” to enhance the moments of Tracy’s insanity.

This movie is not laugh-out-loud funny, but instead it is snarky and subversive and a little self-deprecating. It is a great movie, but definitely deserves to be rated R. This is not for those who are easily offended. The weakest part is probably Chris Klein’s character. After thinking about it, I am not sure if it is the actor’s fault or the script’s. Luckily his character is not so central that it is distracting from the excellent performance of Reese Witherspoon or the better than average performance of Matthew Broderick. If you like dark comedy or offbeat high school movies, definitely see it. It may be the best high school comedy of the 90’s.

******* 7/10