American
BeautyLocation: Loews 19th Street East, Manhattan
It's been called one of the best movies of the year. I'd have to agree that it's certainly different than anything I've seen in a long time. The view of a suburban family embroiled in their own problems so deeply they can't see how much pain the other members are in is truly scary. That aside, go to this movie for an unforgettable ride.
Annette Being is the matriarch of the dysfunctional family so fixated on how she's seen in the eyes of her work colleagues she's blinded to almost everything else. Her performance is hilarious, heart-breaking and riveting. I love to see an actress bitch-slap herself.
Kevin Spacey plays the father impotent to do anything about his pointless life until he meets his daughter's friend. Spacey becomes obsessed with the flirtatious teen and it turns his life around. It's just to bad his new-found lease on life doesn't mesh with Annette's affair with her rival in the real estate business, Peter Gallagher. (Hey Pete, those are some mean eye brows you've got going there.)
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the movie was the new family that moved next door to Annette and Kevin. The father is an ex-military person with rules running out his ass. The mother (my favorite, Allison Janney - with about six words of dialog, but still breath-taking) is a simpering basket case and the son (the mesmerizing Wes Bently) is a video voyeur. The havoc this family finally thrusts into the neighborhood ties up the entire movie.
I'd tell more, but I can't give too much away. I won't go so far as to say it's a master piece or Oscars should be spread all around. It's just a great movie that you really must see.
Listen to me: Scott Bakula
(who can forget Quantum Leap?) plays the gay neighbor on the other side.
Do you really need any other reason to see a movie?
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