Poster © DreamWorks Distribution LLC. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
|
GenreDrama
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 2 mins
ReleasedOctober 1, 1999
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorSam Mendes
StarringKevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch
|
American Beauty (1999)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| American Beauty's Details | |
| Genre | Drama |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 09/08/1999 (Grauman's Egyptian Theatre); 10/01/1999 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 2 mins |
| Budget | $15M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| American Beauty's Interests | |
| General | Red roses, camcorders, white picket fences, dinner table silence, a plastic bag in the wind. |
| Music | Thomas Newman. Hypnotic, plinky percussion that sounds exactly like the suburbs feel. |
| Movies | Revolutionary Road (2008). Mendes goes back to the suburbs, and it is not any happier. |
| Television | Desperate Housewives. Different street, same perfect lawns, same mess inside. |
| Heroes | Ricky Fitts. Finds beauty in a floating plastic bag, and has the tape to prove it. |
| American Beauty's Crew | |
| Director | Sam Mendes |
| Writers | Alan Ball |
| Producers | Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks |
| Cinematography | Conrad L. Hall |
| Music | Thomas Newman |
| Edited By | Tariq Anwar, Christopher Greenbury |
| Production | DreamWorks Pictures, Jinks/Cohen Company |
| Distributed By | DreamWorks Distribution LLC |
This one aged like a carton of milk in a hot Camry. Lester Burnham hates his job and his marriage, so he quits, buys a red sports car and crushes on his daughter’s teenage friend, and the movie frames it all as a spiritual awakening. That part was uncomfortable in 1999 and it’s worse now. The real movie is everybody around him. Annette Bening plays a realtor holding herself together with a pep talk and a smile that could crack glass, and her scene alone in an empty listing is the best work here. Chris Cooper’s Colonel is a pressure cooker in a polo shirt. Wes Bentley’s camcorder kid treats a plastic bag in the wind like a museum piece, and the internet still roasts that bag. It pulled in $356.3 million worldwide on a reported $15M. A 6.1 because the craft is gorgeous and the hero is a guy you’d cross the street to avoid. $87 says you rewatch it and pause twice to ask the room if anyone else feels weird about this.
What works: Annette Bening and Chris Cooper are ferocious, and the photography makes a plain suburban street look like a painting.
What doesn’t: It asks you to root for a grown man’s creepy crush and calls it a midlife awakening.
Who it’s for: People who like suburban satire and want to see how a big 90s favorite holds up today.
Spoilers
Lester stops himself with Angela once he realizes how young and unsure she really is. Colonel Fitts, hiding his own feelings, makes a move on Lester, gets gently turned down, and later shoots him. Lester narrates his final moment with a strange calm, grateful for every small thing.
Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a middle-aged advertising executive sleepwalking through life in the suburbs. His wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) runs the house like a sales seminar and her real estate career like a military campaign. Their teenage daughter Jane (Thora Birch) can barely stand to look at either of them. New neighbors move in next door: a strict retired Marine, Colonel Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper), and his quiet son Ricky (Wes Bentley), who films everything with his camcorder. Then something jolts Lester awake, and he decides to start living like he is nineteen again. Sam Mendes directs. One hundred twenty-two minutes, a whole lot of red roses.
Anyone whose lawn looks perfect from the street. We both know it isn't.
| Kevin Spacey | Lester Burnham |
| Annette Bening | Carolyn Burnham |
| Thora Birch | Jane Burnham |
| Wes Bentley | Ricky Fitts |
| Mena Suvari | Angela Hayes |
| Peter Gallagher | Buddy Kane |
| Allison Janney | Barbara Fitts |
| Chris Cooper | Col. Frank Fitts |
| Scott Bakula | Jim Olmeyer |
| Sam Robards | Jim Berkley |
| Amber Smith | Christy Kane |
| Barry Del Sherman | Brad Dupree |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $356.3M; Domestic box office $130.1M; Opening weekend $862K; Profit / loss (est.) +$155.6M; Rotten Tomatoes 87%; CinemaScore B+; box office chart updated; RT 87% (192 reviews); Metacritic 84 / 100; CinemaScore B+; IMDb users 8.3 / 10 (1,290,690 votes); movie.guru score 8.3.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.