### American Beauty 1999 Beauty % 281999 % 29 Drama , 2 h 2 min Kevin Spacey , Annette Bening , Thora Birch , Wes Bentley Director Sam MendesIMDb rating # movieguidestars # 9733 # 9733 # 9733 # 9733 # 9733 # 9733 # 9733 # 9733 # 9734 # 9734 8 . 410 817 , 037 votes Lester Burnham is a loser suburbanite rebelling against his deadend job , bitchonwheels wife , unloving daughter , and imminent middleage . His subsequent actions unfold into a darkly comic drama laced with a stellar supporting cast and enough roses to fill a nursery . IMDbCritical reception Writing in Variety , Todd McCarthy said the cast ensemble could not be better he praised Spacey ' s handling of innuendo , subtle sarcasm , and blunt talk and the way he imbued Lester with genuine feeling . Janet Maslin in The New York Times said Spacey was at his wittiest and most agile to date , and Roger Ebert of the Chicago SunTimes singled Spacey out for successfully portraying a man who does reckless and foolish things but who doesn ' t deceive himself . Kevin Jackson of Sight Sound said Spacey impressed in ways distinct from his previous performances , the most satisfying aspect being his portrayal of both sap and hero . Writing in Film Quarterly , Gary Hentzi praised the actors , but said that characters such as Carolyn and Col . Fitts were stereotypes . Hentzi accused Mendes and Ball of identifying too readily with Jane and Ricky , saying the latter was their fantasy figurea teenaged boy who ' s an absurdly wealthy artist able to finance own projects . Hentzi said Angela was the most believable teenager , in particular with her painfully familiar attempts to live up to an unworthy image of herself . Maslin agreed that some characters were unoriginal , but said their detailed characterizations made them memorable . Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said the actors coped faultlessly with what were difficult roles he called Spacey ' s performance the energy that drives the film , saying the actor commanded audience involvement despite Lester not always being sympathetic . Against considerable odds , we do like these characters , Turan concluded . WikipediaMore info at Beauty % 281999 % 29 , American % 20 Beauty % 20 % 281999 % 20 film % 29 , Rotten Tomatoes , beauty , , . I am a bot . Send me feedback % 2 Fr % 2 FMovieGuidesubjectRe % 3 A % 20 Confidence 1 . 12 . Data sources and other i n f ormationrMovieGuidewabout .