MOVIE · 1999

American Beauty

DramaRomance122 min

In a neat suburban household, Lester Burnham drifts through a job he hates, a marriage gone cold, and a home where his daughter barely speaks to him. Then his boredom turns into a reckless fixation on Jane’s teenage friend, and the fantasy jolts him into trying to remake his life. As Lester pushes against the rules that have kept him passive, his wife Carolyn tightens her grip on appearances and success, and their daughter retreats further into her own uneasy world. Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening lead a story that turns a midlife rebellion into something messier, exposing the strain, vanity, and loneliness under the surface of middle-class comfort.