Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Look Closer . . . . . . the making of American BeautyThis bonus short for American Beauty's double-VHS & DVD begins & ends at an appearance at a celebrity event. You learn from this that American Beauty exemplifies suburbia or at least shows us suburbanites what Los Angelites imagine us to be and thus are. I also learned that much of what led to American Beauty's differences from other films is that it's made in the style of plays & musicals by those from the theatre and, as long as you are not the one person in America who doesn't like plays or musicals, you shall enjoy that. The screenwriter gives us The Seed of the script. The producers share that it's the best screenplay they'd ever read. So they looked for a studio brave enough to buy the script. Director Mendes, "It was unlike anything I'd ever read before, and you can't say that about many scripts." Spacey & Benning were his 1st choices. Benning felt the script put her on familiar ground. Spacey was struck by how real it felt.How they all got to know each other before shooting American Beauty, in a 2-week rehearsal period. The stars interpret the story for us, as they're interviewed. I guess their comments could be used to write IMDb's main page for American Beauty. Thoughts on the cinematographer and the score. Spielberg's thoughts, such as his not expecting so much "raw truth". I may not agree with much of what was claimed to us but I do see this Making Of short as very enlightening about the thoughts behind American Beauty. Screenwriter Ball, "Beauty is in the strangest places -- of a piece of garbage floating in the wind."