8.4/10
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2,754 user 185 critic

American Beauty (1999)

R | | Drama | 1 October 1999 (USA)
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A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.

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Popularity
299 ( 115)
Top Rated Movies #63 | Won 5 Oscars. Another 103 wins & 98 nominations. See more awards »
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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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Sale House Woman #1
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Sale House Man #1
Fort Atkinson ...
Sale House Man #2
Sue Casey ...
Sale House Woman #2
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Storyline

After his death sometime in his forty-third year, suburbanite Lester Burnham tells of the last few weeks of his life, during which he had no idea of his imminent passing. He is a husband to real estate agent Carolyn Burnham and father to high school student Janie Burnham. Although Lester and Carolyn once loved each other, they now merely tolerate each other. Typical wallflower Janie too hates both her parents, the three who suffer individually in silence in their home life. Janie tries to steer clear of both her parents. Carolyn, relatively new to the real estate business, wants to create the persona of success to further her career, she aspiring to the professional life of Buddy Kane, the king of the real estate business in their neighborhood. Lester merely walks mindlessly through life, including at his job in advertising. His company is downsizing, and he, like all the other employees, has to justify his position to the newly hired efficiency expert to keep his job. Things change ... Written by Huggo

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

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Genres:

Drama

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexuality, language, violence and drug content | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

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Details

Official Sites:

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Release Date:

1 October 1999 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

American Beauty  »

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Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$861,531, 19 September 1999, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$130,096,601

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$226,200,000
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

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Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene where Lester attacks Carolyn's feet with a remote control car was also unscripted, and Annette Bening's surprise and annoyance are a real reaction. See more »

Goofs

After Lester has been shot, Jane and Ricky Fitts come downstairs to the kitchen to investigate. In the first shot blood is shown dripping from the kitchen table from the POV of Jane and Ricky Fitts looking through a crack in the door. The next shot shows Jane and Ricky opening the door to see Lester dead at the table. The POV then returns back to the dripping blood through the crack in the door despite just showing the audience that Jane and Ricky have already opened the door and discovered Lester. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Jane Burnham: I need a father who's a role model, not some horny geek-boy who's gonna spray his shorts whenever I bring a girlfriend home from school. What a lame-o. Someone really should just put him out of his misery.
Ricky Fitts: Want me to kill him for you?
Jane Burnham: Yeah. Would you?
See more »

Crazy Credits

thanks to all at the Donmar Warehouse in London and Dr. Bill and Alice See more »

Connections

References America's Funniest Home Videos (1989) See more »

Soundtracks

Don't Let It Bring You Down
Written by Neil Young
Performed by Annie Lennox
Courtesy of BMG Records (UK) Ltd./Arista Records, Inc.
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User Reviews

 
Look Closer...
12 November 2007 | by See all my reviews

The first time I heard about this movie I thought it was this movie and about a man with cancer and then read a lot of good things about and then say some trailers and then I saw it. At first I did not like this movie but than say it again on T.V and then loved it ever since. This is one of the most original films I have ever seen. The performances are one of the best and more Oscars should have been handed out. The directing by Sam Mendes is superb and I'm glad that he won the Oscar. Alan Ball wrote one of the best screenplay and story's ever thought and there's a reason why he won the Oscar and most deserving. This is the Best of the 1990's and that decade had a lot of great movies came out( Goodfellas, L.A Confedintil, Pulp Fiction to name a few). This was the first movie that I saw that was perfect and I had to see it over and over so I can just uncover everything that was in this movie. This movie is in my top ten movies of all time and I'm glad that it's rank number 35 and that one of the reason why I joined this because it was the only website people respect my opinions and agreed with me. Keven Spacey gives his best performance and one of the best of time. Spacey brings a great performance for a really deep and is just a great character. Annette Bening does a great and for some reason missed the Oscar. Chris Copper does a great job and didn't get notice that much, also did Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari and thora Birch did a great job and should have more notice. Sam Mendes does a great directing job and is one the best film debut ever. This film was one the best ever made and should be seen by everyone hows looking for great movie or how just want have fun watching a movie.


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