Savor

Perhaps no film of the last five years is such an instant candidate for inclusive in a Bad Cinema course as "American Beauty." As craven as it is confused, the contempt that it displays towards its characters and subject matter suggests that it is the product of those whose knowledge of film (and life)doesn't go much beyond the Nineties. Reveling in the trendy cynicism of our times and dismissive of anything that resembles two-dimensional characters, it is depressing to see such an otherwise outstanding cast utterly wasted here (Kevin Spacey, Chris Cooper, and especially Annette Benning in acting so hysterical as to make Al Pacino's work in "Scent of a Woman" a model in nuance and subtlety.) Scattered are scenes of some promise, industrially the technical work is competent, and the teenage performances are fine. It is the director who must take the blame, a man too young to have any conception of a midlife crisis, too English to understand American suburban life, and too new to art to understand that, as Andrew Sarris says, "it is cynicism, and not idealism, that is generally the mark of youthful immaturity, or rather it is the cynic who is generally the most foolish romantic."

This film is one of the great Hollywood films yet so few have ever heard of. Not only does it rate with Douglas Sirk's better known films ("Magnificent Obsession," "All that Heaven Allows," and "Imitation of Life), but is as much a devastating a critique of the American Dream as other fifties movies like "Bigger Than Life." And unlike many melodramas which center on the emotional isolation and turmoil of the central female character, this one analyzes the pain of the main male figure (Fred MacMurray). The film's acting, direction, and script have a precision so well thought out that the effect--both at any given moment and overall --is absolutely astonishing. An incredible film crying out to be rediscovered.