LYCOS RETRIEVER 
American Beauty: Lester Burnham
built 231 days ago
Although principally about Lester Burnham's crash-and-burn descent into gratuitous self-realization, American Beauty is ... the story of how both of these families intersect in comic, tragic, and sometimes unbelievable ways. There is also the self-proclaimed American Beauty herself, Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari), who is Jane Burnham's best friend from the cheerleading team and the object of Lester's unbridled lust. A hearty fancy, she serves as a catalyst for Lester's journey. After spying her at a basketball game, Lester has a series of stunningly-filmed fantasies that spurn him into an absurd plot to bed the nubile beauty. He quits his job, buys a bright red 1970 Pontiac Firebird, and starts lifting weights in the hopes of becoming more attractive to the comely waif. He does impress her, in fact, but the prize of sexual fulfillment he hoped for turns out to be something he had not expected.
Source:
From its title to its allusions to several iconic American texts, American Beauty explores different aspects of American culture and American identity. The title refers to three different symbols of American culture: American Beauty roses (a popular variety), Angela as a representative of youthful, innocent, "American" loveliness, and the American aesthetic of beauty, as represented by Ricky's films. Lester Burnham has distinct similarities to Willy Loman, the everyman protagonist of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Lester, cognizant of his situation, reinvents his life in order to save himself from a similar end. Carolyn Burnham represents American consumerism and the unfortunate belief that things can replace relationships. Lester's job at a fast-food restaurant and Jane's participation on the cheerleading team (both "typical" American roles) inject a humorous note into Mendes' discussion of American culture.
Source:
American Beauty, a story about Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), his family, and his neighbors, is both comic and tragic. In addition to a loveless marriage, an unhappy teen-age daughter, and an unimaginative, routine job, Lester is worried about aging. Nothing has turned out as expected. From the outside, all seems ideal: the white-framed house, the well-tended red roses, and the white picket fence. As illustrated by meal time settings, a highly-charged cold war atmosphere prevails inside the house. Lester and his wife Carolyn (Annette Bening), a realtor, cannot stand each other and their daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), has no desire to be with either of them.
Source:
American Beauty is the most recent addition to this group of movies. It's a blisteringly funny expose of the deep-seated loathing and anger that threatens to rip a family apart. But this is no ordinary suburban tale. It's laced with enough irony and cynicism that it recalls that gloriously vicious form of American cinema, the [F]ilm noir. In the opening moments, the movie directly quotes Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard. Whereas Sunset Boulevard opened with its main character, Joe Gillis, face down in a swimming pool, American Beauty opens with its main character, a suburban husband named Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), providing us voice-over narration that says, "In less than a year, I'll be dead … Of course, I don't know that yet."
Source:
AMERICAN BEAUTY tells the story of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a suburban father who snaps when he becomes disgusted with his stale, repetitive existence. Burnham lets us know in voice-over from the film's opening that this is the day he dies (using the SUNSET BOULEVARD flashback approach), a technique that adds an inevitable tension to the proceedings and keeps the story moving forward at all times. On a whim, Lester quits his job and begins a regression into young adulthood, lifting weights, smoking pot, doing nothing, and discovering the overflowing sexuality of his 16-year-old daughter's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), has her own midlife crisis of sorts. A real estate agent, she experiences a youthful awakening when super-agent Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) seduces her repeatedly. Meanwhile, Jane (Thora Birch), the Burnhams' daughter, is pursued by Ricky (Wes Bentley), the mysterious boy next door who carries a video camera around with him at all times.
Source:
Lester Burnham, the hero of "American Beauty," is played by Kevin Spacey as a man who is unloved by his daughter, ignored by his wife and unnecessary at work. "I'll be dead in a year," he tells us in almost the first words of the movie. "In a way, I'm dead already." The movie is the story of his rebellion.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Lester Burnham