American Beauty: Lester discovers real beauty

[SteveElMonk86]

One of my favorite movies ever. Watching it kind of gives you hope, you know? Lester's a 40-year old dude whose kind of let life take him down, and then he just starts trying to "get it back"...and he succeeds.

Still, he does it at the cost of neglecting his family. So, I dunno, there's alot to debate about. That's what film is really supposed to do, though. It doesn't preach. It just presents a series of events and lets you make your judgment. Awesome movie.

[Zeppolino100]

Call me a lech, but as the movie ends with poor Kevin Spacey being murdered in his forties, he SHOULD have made tender love to Mena Suvari. She would have have not been traumatized by the rejection depicted, and he would have had one last incredible sensual experience. So much for excessive morality.

[TheLastModernist]

@SweetChick10101 No, sorry. I understood Lesters character up until this point and could empathise with each scenario he found himself in. The "epiphany" he had at the end was such an obvious cop out, I'm surprised anyone's defending it. He would have joyfully nailed her.

[suzettegm]

It's a love scene allright.

[AnthonyWilsonDubstep]

great scene, but still cant believe its her first time, i'd sort her right out jeeeeee

[SilvermanGirl81]

Mena Suvari is NOT hot. She's thin, but that doesn't make her attractive.

[boredtrophyhusband]

@SilvermanGirl81 google her ass

[PaperadiGomma123]

I L O V E the picture with the red door and the rain :D

[mcrhythm2]

This is not a masculine+femimine movie! Look @ the whole picture!

[soundificator]

and then he got his brains blown off

[IamNick2k11]

@soundificator prick

[Rescueme0909]

People don't get this scene when they say Lester should've had sex with her. If it's true they changed this scene, it was a good adjustment. Lester realizes that he doesn't want to be known as the first person to have sex with her, symbolizing that all and all Lester has morals, guilt, and feelings. In fact, he likes her so much that he refuses to have sex with her, in order to save her the possible regret.

[TheLastModernist]

@Rescueme0909 People don't get that the modification of this scene from the original screenplay is a complete betrayal of the Lesters character as portrayed up until that moment.

It reeks of compromise and prevents this film from being a masterpiece

[Rescueme0909]

@TheLastModernist So you believe that Lester sleeping with a 16 year old and making her lose her virginity to a 40 something year would have made this a masterpiece? The entire purpose of Lester's mid-life crisis was inspired by her. She motivated him to get out of the fog he was in, to live life freely and without concern. After he quit his boring job, bought the car he always wanted, smoked weed, worked out, and a 16 year old girl wanted his dick, he realized that he was re-born.

[Rescueme0909]

In an almost grace of gratitude, he doesn't ruin her first time with him, knowing that deep down inside that what he is doing is wrong.

[TheLastModernist]

@Rescueme0909 I can only assume that it's this simplistic, traditional notion, that it would be "wrong" for Lester to sleep with her, that made them change the ending.

The reality is, there's nothing wrong with 2 consenting people having sexual intercourse.

I am assured by my female friends that sex with an older man is far superior to the clumsy fumblings of a teenager.

[dieptkhang]

tits!!!



[andmaketherain]

I'd still hit it.

[TheLastModernist]

This scene was a complete betrayal of the character that had been portrayed up to that point in the movie.

It doesn't ring true.

He should have humped her like an animal, then had the deep chat.

Me thinks the director/scriptwriter wimped out.

[Stizou777]

@TheLastModernist Or he was riding a wave of fantasy and make-believe, when reality finally hit him

[TheLastModernist]

@Stizou777 But the fantasy was becoming a reality.

No, for me, it didn't add up.

I can see why they didn't have them fucking, in order that we think he's a "good guy," but a man doesn't give up his obsession as easily as that.

[Stizou777]

@TheLastModernist Oh but he does, because I've been there. Its different from person to person, and just because you cant relate does not mean its wrong

[TheLastModernist]

@Stizou777 Really?

You've had a 16 year old, incredibly hot, cheer leader want to sleep with you, and you turned her down.

Good for you !

[Stizou777]

@TheLastModernist Its deeper than what you see. Its just just necessarily about a 16 year old cheerleader.

[heyilovepancakes]

@TheLastModernist I read the screenplay and in the screenplay they do fuck and then they have the deep chat. Just a last minute change I guess.

[TheLastModernist]

@heyilovepancakes Sounds as if the director watered it down to make it more palatable to a broader audience.

[SweetChick10101]

@TheLastModernist The point of the movie was not so much Lester pursuing Angela, but the fact that she woke him up and he realized how much he missed all of the things that made him happy. The fact that he doesn't just shows his final realization that he had gotten what he wanted, his happiness, and wasn't going to take a naive girl's virginity and risk hurting her.

[bg11215]

This scene/sequence is so powerful, it always makes me feel a little melancholy, a deep sense of yearning somewhere deep inside. I think it's because the characters have finally shed their false personas and are being 100% real with each other for the first time. And it makes me wonder where I have stopped being authentic in my own life, how far I've strayed from being myself. That's what's so powerful about this movie for me. It's about getting back to yourself, reconnecting with your heart.

[Zoidberg312]

What's so powerful about this scene is the reaction Spacey has when Angela poses the question "how are you?" Think about how many times we say that to somebody as just a part of idle conversation not really caring. Look at his reaction over being asked that for the first time in a long time. Spacey, you're incredible! Fuck Clooney! You're way better.

[Sykes86]

My heart aways breaks a little when He asks about Jane and the look of awe when he founds out that she is in love.

[PATRI0TUL]

congrats to the DP

[MasculinityMovies]

I completely agree with you, funnylozr. Of all the movies I've written about on my webpage, this is perhaps my favourite. Exceptional movie making. A modern classic.

[funnylozr]

I was overwhelmed with happiness when he said that he was great and then got this gut wrenching feeling when he sat down to look at the picture because I know what comes next. Kevin Spacey, and this movie as a whole, are absolutely SPECTACULAR.

[ozpox]

are those boobs on youtube???

[Bonzostar]

Beautiful Scene. :)