American Beauty (1999)

In DreamWorks' American Beauty, Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening play definitive middle-aged losers, all the more pathetic for all of their apparent success. Their relationship has slipped into chronic ennui, creating a daughter (Thora Birch) with dangerously lonely and needy impulses. Her self-absorbed friend (Mena Suvari) quickly becomes jailbait for Spacey's Lester, who, in a moment of inspiration, invents his own reversal of fortune, systematically reshaping every aspect of his life. Lester is indisputably the center of the maelstrom, but each supporting character is indelibly drawn, especially the boy next door (Wes Bentley), the surprisingly level-headed product of a deeply cracked household (headed by Chris Cooper and Alison Janney). This straight-dealing teen ingratiates himself with Lester, while unconventionally pursuing his daughter.

Spacey succeeds in topping himself again, making his suspect character enormously sympathetic and wholly understandable, while Bening is typically incisive as his pitiable, jabbering wife. Bentley and Birch are revelations, and Cooper sells an enormously tricky role with just the right mix of homophobia and confusion.

In the wake of its Oscar success, Mendes has taken hits for the film's derivative elements, which is fair, but the film succeeds on its own merits. Mendes (ably supported by cinematographer Conrad Hall) deserves credit for a smooth and limber approach to this material, as well as his cast. American Beauty is philosophical, darkly funny, and visually exciting in a broadly appealing, classical Hollywood way.