American Beauty A Movie Review	MPAA Rated - R It's 1:58 Long A Review by The Dude on the Right

Picture if you will a totally dysfunctional family. Mom is in real estate and losing it, dad is in advertising and losing it, and the daughter has already lost it, hanging around with the high school babe and just trying to accept being abnormal. That's bad enough, now introduce a new family next door. Dad used to be in the military and is always suspicious of his son. Mom is, well, basically comatose. And the son gets his kicks by seeing beauty in the strangest things, usually videotaping them, and also sells pot. Alright, you probably guessed this, but the son likes the daughter, the daughter ends up liking the son, and "American Beauty" turns into one of those movies that has a lot of slow spots but still has you leaving the theater just saying something like "Whoa."

Well, in "American Beauty", real estate mom is Carolyn (Annette Bening, who I have always liked, and I guess that sounds weird, but I have), advertising dad is Lester (Kevin Spacey, in another great roll), and their daughter is Jane (Thora Birch - she plays the displaced teenager perfectly). Then you've got the main player from family #2, Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley - playing the psychotic but still with maybe the most grip on reality teenager). Well, Lester gets most of his pleasure by beating off. Yea, that's right, masturbating, and it's usually with Angela (Mena Suvari), Jane's high school friend, in mind. He hates his job, he's in his midlife crises, and Ricky shows him the way to tap into being young again. Now, Carolyn, on the other hand, would get her pleasure by selling a house, but sadly seems to have lost it. So she sees her way to happiness in the likes of Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher), the local real estate mogul who she lets teach her a thing or two about positive thinking and royalty. In the meantime Jane and Ricky fall in love with each other but Ricky's military dad is still suspicious.

I can't really give you much more without giving away a lot of the subtleties that make "American Beauty" a great film. It's a dark movie. Families are falling apart and it unfolds right before your eyes. It kind of might make you wonder about your own family. It also has some funny moments, maybe because you might see them in your own life. But mostly, at least for me, "American Beauty" just had all of the right players in all of the right parts, and that got me past the slow moments, probably high on an artistic standpoint, but I was just stuck waiting a little longer to see if dad would score with Angela.

If things like sex, a dad lusting over a teenager, a family falling apart, or just life not being happy aren't your idea of a good movie you might want to stay away from "American Beauty," and that's a little too bad. It's sometimes blunt, sometimes not really to the point, but it takes you on a trip and the acting is great. That, and maybe this doesn't really fit with the review of the film, but a clip achieved what Paul tried to do in a "Mad About You" episode - film the wind. It's an artistic message for this movie, but just stood out for me as well, filming the wind.

Well, let's leave this review at that. I'm giving "American Beauty" 4 ½ stars out of 5. It's a great film, although it does drag a little, but I guess that's sometimes the price you pay for mixing the artsy side a little with the serious side..

That's if for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!