American Beauty

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2:53

American Beauty

R

1999

2h 2m

Comedy

Romance

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

87%

Tomatometer

192 Reviews

93%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a gainfully employed suburban husband and father. Fed up with his boring, stagnant existence, he quits his job and decides to reinvent himself as a pot-smoking, responsibility-shirking teenager. What follows is at once cynical, hysterical, and, eventually, tragically uplifting.

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Critics Consensus

Flawlessly cast and brimming with dark, acid wit, American Beauty is a smart, provocative high point of late '90s mainstream Hollywood film.

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Paul Clinton (CNN.com)

CNN.com

02/22/2015

American Beauty is deeply disturbing, acerbically funny, brilliantly acted, breathtakingly original and highly sophisticated.

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Ann Hornaday

Baltimore Sun

02/22/2015

4/4

A tightly coiled rage seethes beneath the pretty surface of American Beauty, a wickedly funny black comedy directed by newcomer Sam Mendes.

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Jeff Strickler

Minneapolis Star Tribune

02/22/2015

This is Spacey's best performance since he took home an Oscar for The Usual Suspects.

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Nicolás Medina

Peliplat

05/10/2025

10/10

In a world increasingly obsessed with appearance and superficiality, the film reminds us that the important thing was, and will be to look closer and find beauty in truth and authenticity. [Full review in Spanish]

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Mark Johnson

Awards Daily

06/14/2023

With its clever and thought-provoking exploration of middle-class life, American Beauty continues to ignite conversations and debates, setting it apart from many other films

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Joanna Connors

Cleveland Plain Dealer

02/04/2022

[It's] a movie that years from now will end up on the lists of greatest movies ever made. It's a complete original, at once hugely entertaining and deeply thoughtful, combining comedy, tragedy and philosophy in surprising and gratifying ways.

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Thyaagu C

@Thyaagu 4d

What a fascinating watch! Funny, dark, tragic, and beautiful - all at the same time. Human desires, insecurities, fantasies, and all the messy emotions surrounding them are captured and displayed at their absolute best here.

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14Roy H.

@QuarterRoy13 Apr 23

The casting, storyline, Direction, Acting & Set design are as good as it gets! I wouldn't have changed a thing about this film!

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AJ S.

@Ajschwe Apr 6

This is easily a top-tier movie for me.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Mar 1

The worldwide gross is $356,296,601.00 over a budget of $15,000,000.00.

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Jason S

@queebo Feb 28

There is no subtlety or nuance to this movie. All of the themes and ideas just slap you in the face, and they aren't really profound in 2026. It does hold your attention, though.

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Non school P

@RT47853434 Feb 22

This movie has some unexpectedly useful themes to it. I'm going to pick out one in particular that won't be popular with the internet puritan crowd. If you find yourself in a very unethical situation with a young woman that you shouldn't be with, you CAN stop before it's too late. It doesn't make you a hero, just a chance at redemption to turn away from scumbaggery to decency and humanity in the end. I know there's an ick factor...it's not supposed to make you comfortable and think everything is just a-okay, but it does mean that there are shades of gray to human behavior and all of its messy nuances. Now proceed to bash the actor portraying the message, all of the bad things he and others did in the interim (in the film and real life), and everything else one can find to bash in this dark comedy. Take me on for pointing it out while you are at it.

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Sam Mendes

Director

Kevin Spacey

Lester Burnham

Annette Bening

Carolyn Burnham

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American Beauty: Trailer 1

2:53

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Synopsis

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a gainfully employed suburban husband and father. Fed up with his boring, stagnant existence, he quits his job and decides to reinvent himself as a pot-smoking, responsibility-shirking teenager. What follows is at once cynical, hysterical, and, eventually, tragically uplifting.

Director: Sam Mendes
Producer: Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks
Screenwriter: Alan Ball
Distributor: DreamWorks SKG
Production Co: DreamWorks Pictures, Jinks/Cohen Company
Rating: R (Language|Drug Content|Strong Sexuality|Violence)
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 1, 1999, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $130.1M
Runtime: 2h 2m
Sound Mix: Dolby SR, DTS, Dolby Stereo, Surround, SDDS, Dolby A, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)