American Beauty
DreamWorks Distribution | Release Date: September 15, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
84
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Though excellent in many ways, American Beauty is, finally, an uneasy mix of assured technique and simplistic satire.
80
TimeRichard Schickel
Kevin Spacey (gives) a truly great performance.
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
A ruthless dissection of suburban malaise. Read full review
90
Film.comPeter Brunette
Hilarious, slightly sick, and super-edgy ...the acting of its two principals, Annette Bening and Kevin Spacey, is so sublime that it's worth seeing on that grounds alone. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Spacey, an actor who embodies intelligence in his eyes and voice, is the right choice for Lester Burnham. Read full review
25
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
The deeper American Beauty tries to get, the shallower it reveals itself to be. Read full review
63
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
A satire whose dead aim stops wounding - and starts making - stereotypes of white middle-classness. Read full review
100
TNT RoughCutChristopher Brandon
A dark comical masterpiece that single-handedly announces the collapse of the American family infrastructure as it exists on the brink of Y2K.
100
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
It gracefully defies the usual categories, gets under your skin in ways you cannot anticipate, then works its way straight toward the heart. It's far and away the bravest and best movie of the year. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Surprises you with a kind of hardheaded romanticism. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Hilarious, painful and brutally frank. Read full review
90
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A script as fresh and distinctive as any produced in the States in recent memory. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Remarkably astute and devastatingly funny.
100
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A tart, funny and tremendously sobering movie about the deepest recesses of personal unhappiness. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Spacey is diamond-brilliant in a role that plays as if custom-made for him. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Bland and nasty, American Beauty has the slightly stale feel of a family sitcom conceived under the spell of "Married . . . With Children." Read full review
70
Film.comRobert Horton
If it is never really as profound as it seems to think it is, American Beauty is consistently entertaining, and it earns points simply for acknowledging that all may not be perfect in the current boom years. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
If you don't share the film's piercing vision of what really matters, someday you will. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
A wonder of a film -- a luminous, beautifully executed drama that gathers the best cast of the year -- the best American film of the year. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Mendes nonetheless works this screenplay like a jazz virtuoso plays with a familiar theme such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
A dynamite comedy-drama that, unless it stiffs big-time at the box office, should be up for multi-Oscar nominations come February. Read full review
60
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
It remains a puzzling dream, vivid in detail and overly obvious in symbolism, fueled by half-digested lumps of malice and wonder. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
A brilliant, exhilarating piece of filmmaking. It may even be the best mainstream film of the year thus far. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
A brilliant satirical diagnosis of what's most screwed up about life in this country, especially when it comes to sexual frustration and kiddie porn. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A blood-chilling dark comedy with unexpected moments of both fury and warmth, a strange, brooding and very accomplished film that sets us back on our heels from its opening frames. Read full review
100
USA TodayMike Clark
A singular accomplishment so specifically keyed to Spacey's talents that it mandates going out on a limb to say it contains the performance that will ultimately be regarded as "the one." Read full review
100
New York PostRod Dreher
A flat-out masterpiece, surely the best movie of the year; indeed, an all-time classic.
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
You know you're in the hands of a true filmmaker when you feel invited, at every turn, to share his sense of entrancement. I got that feeling in just about every frame of American Beauty. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
(Mendes') film debut shows he can shock not only with noise and nakedness but with subtle observations. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Black comedy of the deepest, richest darkness laid over an aching meditation on the atrophy of dreams. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
I've got to admit it's a stunner.
100
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A triumph of acting, writing and directing that defies glib description...the kind of artful defiance that Hollywood is usually too timid to deliver: a jolting comedy that makes you laugh till it hurts.
40
NewsweekAnn-Rebecca Laschever
In the end, the film lacks the skill of its actors and ends up feeling disjointed and confused about its own message. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunAnn Hornaday
A movie that will endure.
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