Line #154 Film/AmericanBeauty


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6	[[caption-width-right:350:[-[[{{Tagline}} ...look closer]]-]]]
7
8	''American Beauty'' is a 1999 American {{black\|Comedy}} {{dramedy}} film directed by Creator/SamMendes, written by Creator/AlanBall (''Series/SixFeetUnder'', ''Series/TrueBlood''), and starring Creator/KevinSpacey.
9
10	As to the plot, the opening narration tells it all:
11
12	->''"[[VerbalBusinessCard My name is Lester Burnham.]] This is my neighborhood; this is my street; this is my life. I am 42 years old; in less than a year, [[OhAndXDies I'll be dead]]. Of course, I don't know that yet. And, in a way, I'm dead already."''
13
14	[[AC:The characters in the film:]]
15	* '''Lester Burnham''' (Creator/KevinSpacey), a HenpeckedHusband and personality-less advertising-magazine wage slave who feels trapped in a shallow and meaningless life. He is the film's [[PosthumousNarration Posthumous Narrator]] and main character, and the story concerns his efforts to find happiness. "Both my wife and daughter think I'm this gigantic loser... and they're right."
16	* '''Carolyn Burnham''' (Creator/AnnetteBening), his wife, head of a real-estate firm and a StepfordSmiler of alarming caliber. "My company sells an image. It's part of my job to live that image."
17	* '''Jane Burnham''' (Creator/ThoraBirch), their daughter of 16 years old. "Janie's a pretty typical teenager: angry, insecure, confused. I wish I could tell her that's all going to pass... but I don't want to lie to her." She resents the way her father has begun to withdraw from her, and, in the very first scene of the movie, takes someone up on an offer to murder him.
18	* '''Angela Hayes''' (Creator/MenaSuvari), who is on the cheerleading team with Jane and quickly becomes the object of Lester's fantasies, causing him to start an intensive work-out regimen in an attempt to seduce her. She acts more worldly and [[ReallyGetsAround experienced]] than Jane, and isn't afraid to use her body to her advantage: "If people I don't even know look at me and want to fuck me, it means... I really have a shot at being a model!"
19	* '''Ricky Fitts''' (Creator/WesBentley), the new next-door neighbor to the Burnhams and Jane's eventual love interest. He is a weird combination of StalkerWithACrush, {{Cloudcuckoolander}} and ShroudedInMyth (in regards to where he was before he moved here), and [[OnlySaneMan sees more clearly]] than anyone else in the cast. He is an experienced dealer of marijuana, becoming Lester's supplier, and carries a video camera everywhere to record interesting moments out of his life. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just think you're interesting."
20	* '''Buddy Kane''' (Creator/PeterGallagher), Carolyn's main business rival, the self-styled "King of Real Estate." He's powerful, success-minded, has enormously charismatic eyebrows, and appeals to her StepfordSmiler instincts: "In order to be successful, one must project an image of success at all times." Eventually, the two of them start an affair. He also introduces Carolyn to the shooting range, where she picks up a Smith & Wesson once owned by a man named {{Chekhov\|sGun}}...
21	* '''Col. Frank Fitts, [[SemperFi USMC]]''' (Creator/ChrisCooper), a now-inactive Marine who fought in Vietnam. He's trying to raise Ricky in his own image ("[[CharacterCatchphrase You need structure... you need discipline]]"), which is meeting with limited success. [[HeteronormativeCrusader He's also a flaming homophobe.]]
22	* '''Barbara Fitts''' (Creator/AllisonJanney), the colonel's [[ExtremeDoormat silent, disjointed wife]]. She doesn't get many scenes, but Janney uses even her character's silence to communicate that there are some severe repression problems going on here.
23	* '''Jim Berkley''' (Creator/SamRobards) and '''Jim Olmeyer''' (Creator/ScottBakula), a gay couple who are the Burnhams' next-door neighbors on the other side. Bakula has joked that these are the most normal people in the film -- and the thing is, he's right. They help Lester develop his new work-out regimen.
24
25	Almost none of these characters are who they appear to be. The Burnhams evolve, spiraling in and out of happiness as the film progresses, while others are simply turned around on a single WhamLine.
26
27	''American Beauty'' served as a breakout moment for both its writer and director; Chris Cooper also got his launch here. The film won five [[MediaNotes/AcademyAward Oscars]]: [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestPicture Best Picture]], [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestDirecting Best Director]] for Mendes, [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestActorInALeadingRole Best Actor]] for Spacey (his second Oscar), [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestOriginalScreenplay Best Original Screenplay]] for Ball, and [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestCinematography Best Cinematography]] for Conrad L. Hall.
28
29	The film is additionally notable for being a dark, cynical, and dead-funny look at modern suburbia, with its tonal approach possibly [[FollowTheLeader encouraging the later trend]] of [[TrueArtIsAngsty artsy/angsty]], relatively obscure dramas getting all the Best Picture nods. It's also notable for juggling a ton of characters ''successfully'', where most films top out at three or four.
30	----
31	!!''American Beauty'' contains examples of:
32	* FiveFiveFive: Lester's office phone number is 555-0199 which we hear him hand out to one of his clients.
33	* AccidentalMisnaming: At the business function, Buddy Kane addresses Carolyn as Catherine, highlighting his superficiality.
34	* ACupAngst: Jane is looking up breast augmentation on the internet early in the movie. Subverted in that it turns out she is actually well-endowed, but her insecurity comes from the fact that one of her breasts is a little larger than the other.
35	* AgeGapRomance: Deconstructed and subverted. Lester Burnham, while going through a mid-life crisis, starts to lust after his daughter's teenage friend Angela and decides to seduce her. However, [[spoiler:when they're actually together, she reveals that all her talk of having been with multiple boys was just bragging and she's really a virgin. Lester, who realizes how inappropriate he's been, refuses to take advantage of her]].
36	* AllGuysWantCheerleaders: Played straight with Lester's attraction to Angela, and subverted by Ricky's attitude towards her. Double subverted then since Jane is also a cheerleader (although not a stereotypically blonde one). She's also terrible at it.
37	* AmericanTitle: Of the ironic variety.
38	* AMFMCharacterization:
39	** Lester is a Music/PinkFloyd fan, as he's amazed that Ricky owns a copy of ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon''. He also sings "American Woman" by Music/TheGuessWho while stoned in the car.
40	** Carolyn sings Music/BobbyDarin's version of "[[Theatre/FunnyGirl Don't Rain on My Parade]]" in the car. She's evidently a big Darin fan, as the soundtrack for the dinner table confrontation, which she is implied to have chosen, includes his recordings of "Call Me Irresponsible" and "Where Love Has Gone".
41	* AndAnotherThing: "...From now on, we're going to alternate our dinner music. Because frankly, and I don't think I'm alone here, I'm really tired of this Lawrence Welk shit."
42	* ArtisticLicenceBiology: The movie has some pretty unrealistic gore effects that contradict the basics of human anatomy and physiology. When Ricky gets hit by his father, it looks as if though his face merely ''squirted out'' some blood and then instantly healed itself, which is obviously impossible. Furthermore, [[spoiler:when Lester gets killed, the way his blood gets splattered makes no sense -- it's as if though the film crew just randomly threw some blood on the actor and on the nearby wall]].
43	* AuthorAppeal:
44	** Most Creator/AlanBall scripts feature gay characters, this one included.
45	** There are a couple of showtunes in the film, evidence of director Sam Mendes's theatre background; ''American Beauty'' was his first non-theatre directorial effort.
46	* AwfulWeddedLife: Both the Burnhams and the Fitts lead unhappy marriages.
47	* BaitAndSwitch: Two instances of it in the circumstances leading to Lester's [[spoiler:murder. In the opening scenes of the film, we hear Lester saying that he'll be dead in less than a year, as well as Jane seemingly seriously discussing murdering her father with help from her boyfriend Ricky, which leads us to assume that Lester would eventually be murdered by his daughter and her lover. We later find out that the conversation wasn't serious. Later on, we see Carolyn deciding "not to be a victim" by taking out her gun with the presumed intention of murdering Lester. Minutes later, we see a gun pointed to the back of Lester's head in the kitchen and he's shot to death. We assume that it's Carolyn, but later discover that the murder was actually committed by Col. Fitts]].
48	* BeneathTheMask: No main character is really who he or she appears to be at first, and the film ends when they have finally all found themselves for who they really are beneath their masks.
49	* BitchAlert: Carolyn. Her first lines to her daughter are "are you trying to look unattractive today?" and her idea of congratulating her on her routine is, "you didn't screw up once!"
50	* BlackComedy: It's a movie about a man who lusts over a teenage girl, who we know dies at the end, his wife who's having an affair, his insecure daughter, and the boy next door who films her and dead animals because he finds them "interesting", who is also the man's drug dealer. It's hilarious in parts and downright tear-jerking in others.
51	* {{Blackmail}}: When getting fired, Lester threatens his boss with a sexual harassment charge if he doesn't agree to a one-year salary compensation. It works.
52	* BluntYes:
53	-->'''Carolyn:''' Jane, dear, are you ''trying'' to look unattractive today?\
54	'''Jane:''' Yes.
55	* BoringInsult:
56	-->'''Angela:''' Well, at least I'm not ugly.\
57	'''Ricky:''' ...Yes, you are. And you're boring. And you're totally ordinary. And you know it.
58	** This completely shuts Angela down into a crying fit in the Burnham living room. [[ChekhovsGun She even said earlier that, "there's nothing worse in life than being ordinary."]]
59	* BurgerFool: Lester becomes one voluntarily and, [[SubvertedTrope unlike his co-workers, seems to enjoy it]]. It helps that, when he was laid off from his previous job, he blackmailed his boss into giving him an ''extremely'' generous severance package so anything he earns from the restaurant job is just extra cash to spend.
60	* CallingTheOldManOut: Downplayed. When his father expels him from the house, Ricky tells him what a sad old man he is.
61	* CameraFiend: Angela thinks Ricky is this, but he films Jane because he thinks she's interesting and immediately stops when she asks him to. The scene where Jane strips off for him on camera points this out as, while she is topless, Ricky is pointing the camera at her eyes because of her expression.
62	* CardboardBoxOfUnemployment: After Lester succeeds in blackmailing his boss and quitting his boring desk job, he leaves the office carrying a box with his belongings hoisted on his shoulder and pumping his fist triumphantly.
63	* CastingCouch: Angela boasts of sleeping with a photographer to enhance her modeling career. [[spoiler:Turns out she was lying]].
64	* CatharticScream: Carolyn lets one out alone in her car after Lester caught her with Buddy.
65	* ChangingYourselfForLove: Lester falls for his daughter's schoolmate and, after overhearing her say that she would find him attractive if he were just more buff, immediately starts working out regularly until he's in top shape to impress her.
66	* CharacterDevelopment: Lester's midlife crisis acts not only as a catalyst that changed Lester, but for most of the major characters in the film.
67	* ChekhovsGun: We see Carolyn on the shooting range with a gun. Later she reaches for that gun when she decides to kill Lester.
68	* ChivalrousPervert: Lester's obsession over Angela is pretty {{squick}}-inducing, but when he actually has a chance to fulfill his fantasy, [[spoiler:he stops once he realizes that for all her bravado, Angela is still a virgin]].
69	* CountryMatters: Angela yells "Cunt!" at a classmate after the latter accuses Angela of looking fat on-screen and her TV career not being that great.
70	* CreatorCameo: The producer plays the bartender at the place where Ricky works.
71	* DramaticSpotlight: During Lester's FantasySequence of him watching Angela dancing in the gym, both of them are highlighted with a spotlight. Lester even gets a separate spotlight [[AllInTheEyes for his eyes]].
72	* DullSurprise: Jane and Ricky's reaction to finding Lester's [[spoiler:dead body bleeding from a headshot in the kitchen]].
73	* DysfunctionJunction: Pretty much everyone except Ricky is horribly insecure, and even he isn't quite right in the head.
74	* ElderEmployee: Lester quits his advertising job and takes up working at the local burger joint (explaining he wants "the least possible amount of responsibility"). He's easily 20+ years older than the other employees, including the managers, and when his interviewer thinks Lester is overqualified and won't fit in there, he has to defend his prior fast food service experience despite it being decades earlier.
75	* EnsembleCast: Lester Burnham, Carolyn Burnham, Jane Burnham, Colonel Frank Fitts, Barbara Fitts, Ricky Fitts, Angela Hayes, Buddy Kane, Brad Dupree, Jim Olmeyer, and Jim Berkley. No, none of these are just filler characters--each of them plays a crucial role in the plot, or in someone else's characterization.
76	* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Angela Hayes, center of Lester's (and supposedly many other men's and boys') attention.
77	* FantasySequence: You'll never hear the music piece "On Broadway" the same way again.
78	* FauxYay: Ricky sarcastically claims to be a prostitute who services other men when his father tells him that he would rather him be dead than homosexual.
79	-->'''Ricky:''' And you should see me fuck. I'm the best piece of ass in three states!
80	* FirstLawOfTragicomedies: While not completely unserious, the movie begins with a somewhat lighthearted/sarcastic nature, but the film slowly starts to develop a more serious tone throughout, beginning with Carolyn's breakdown in the house she fails to sell.
81	* FlippingTheBird: Jane shows Ricky the middle finger when she notices him filming her in front of the house at night.
82	* FlowerMotifs: Roses and rose petals occur throughout the film, of the variety known as [[MeaningfulName Rosa 'American Beauty']].
83	* ForYourOwnGood: After giving his son a thorough beating over the touched Nazi plate, Frank tells Ricky that this lesson is for his own good as it should make him reconsider his respect for other people's things and for authority.
84	* GetOut: Col. Fitts demands Ricky to leave the house after the "blow job" incident in Lester's garage.
85	* GoryDiscretionShot: When Lester is killed, we only see the brain splatter on the wall.
86	* GrandRomanticGesture: Ricky burns a rope in the yard at night spelling Jane's name.
87	* HaveIMentionedIAmSexuallyActiveToday: Angela isn't the slut she makes herself out to be -- in fact, she's an UnexpectedVirgin.
88	* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler:Col. Fitts]] kills Lester, to keep [[spoiler:his homosexuality]] a secret... or out of shame for having [[spoiler:tried to kiss him]]... or because he thinks he's a pedophile who [[spoiler:rejects the advances of grown men]].
89	* HeldGaze:
90	** Jane and Ricky gaze at each other for eight seconds in the schoolyard after he mentions that he is curious about her. It's another pointer at them growing closer.
91	** Carolyn and Buddy Kane share one at the business function after he tells her he would love to meet her for lunch.
92	* TheHeroDies: Lester himself at the end.
93	* HomageShot: To ''Literature/OrdinaryPeople'' during the dinner scene. Also, according to WordOfGod, the shot up Lester's legs as he's running in the last act is a ShoutOut to ''Film/MarathonMan''.
94	* HowlOfSorrow: Poor Carolyn gives off a powerful mournful wail after [[spoiler: finding Lester dead.]]
95	* HowWeGotHere: The film opens with a scene from far into the story where Jane declares she wants to have her dad "[[DeadlyEuphemism put out of his misery]]" and the male behind the camera answers, "You want me to kill him for you?" before she responds in the affirmative. We are then shown the events that lead up to this scene.
96	* HurricaneOfEuphemisms: When Carolyn catches Lester masturbating: "Oh, all right! So shoot me, I was whacking off! That's right, I was choking the bishop, chafing the carrot, you know, saying 'hi' to my monster!"
97	* HypocriticalHumor: Janine says the slogan, "Smile! You're at Mister Smiley's!" without a trace of a smile on her face or enthusiasm in her voice. Ricky's mom's apology for the look of the (immaculate) house might also count, but it's not very funny since it's sadly indicative of her mental illness.
98	* IdealizedSex: Averted. The sex scene between Buddy and Carolyn is hilariously over-the-top. ("Fuck me, Your Majesty!") The sex scene between [[spoiler:Lester and Angela]] comes closer to the trope, yet [[spoiler:it ends up not with sex, but with Lester backing off and comforting Angela instead after learning that she's still a virgin]].
99	* INeedAFreakingDrink: Lester at Carolyn's business function, right after giving his wife a HeadTiltinglyKinky kiss, to boot!
100	* InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn: Carolyn spouts this at one point.
101	* IntimateArtistry: Ricky Fitts [[CameraFiend takes his video camera with him everywhere and views the entire world through the viewfinder]]. Though extremely creepy and borderline (or ''over'' the border) [[StalkerWithACrush stalking]], he is shown growing attached to and connecting with people and experiences much more deeply than any other character. He and Jane Burnham grow closer as he films her.
102	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Played with regarding Lester's attitude toward Carolyn's affair with Buddy. Lester ultimately seems rather indifferent to the affair itself, and isn't so much happy for his wife finding happiness with someone else as he is delighted at being able to experience a bit of ''schadenfreude'' at seeing his wife, who had adopted a superior-than-thou attitude towards him and pretty much everyone throughout the movie (at least in public) being brought down a peg or two in a rather publicly humiliating fashion through being exposed as an adulterer in front of him and everyone he works with.
103	-->'''Lester:''' You... don't get to tell me what to do... ever... again.
104	** Near the climax of the film, Lester gets a big smile on his face when Angela tells him his daughter Jane "thinks she's in love" and is happy.
105	* LettingHerHairDown: When Jane shows Ricky her breasts, she lets her hair down first. She is also shown with her hair down when she and Ricky have their intimate scene.
106	* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: Jane and the new neighbor boy Ricky fall in love. [[spoiler:Frank mistakenly thinks this is happening between Ricky and Lester, and he tries to literally love Lester himself, only to be rejected.]]
107	* LoveAtFirstSight: Lester falls for Angela as soon as he sees her dancing in the gym. Confirmed at the end by him when he [[LoveConfession confesses his love to her]] before they start making out.
108	* MaddenIntoMisanthropy: Lester's CharacterDevelopment arc goes through this and out the other side, [[spoiler:finally finding himself in an epiphany]] just before his life is tragically cut short.
109	* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Presented straight initially with Jane as the Madonna and Angela as the Whore. Subverted as the movie goes on, where Jane embraces her sexuality and [[spoiler:it's revealed Angela is still a virgin]].
110	* MasturbationMeansSexualFrustration: The film opens by showing Lester's miserable daily life, which among other things includes him glumly masturbating in the shower thanks to his dissatisfying and dysfunctional SexlessMarriage with Carolyn. The fact that he does this out of sexual frustration is further highlighted by how he only begins to rebel against the confines of his joyless life after becoming sexually fixated on Angela. Later, when Carolyn catches him jacking off, the two get into an argument about their shared sexual frustration, with her refusing to engage with him when he says that he's ready to take care of that.
111	* MeaningfulEcho: Both Ricky and Lester famously pontificate on how there's "so much beauty in the world", and how it makes them feel their hearts will burst: Ricky when he shows Jane his video of the plastic bag, and Lester's speech [[spoiler: after he's murdered.]]
112	* MeaningfulName:
113	%%** Ricky Fitts (see above).
114	** Jane. Could be a play on Plain Jane, but as Ricky points out, she is beautiful, opposite of Angela in that she isn't a conventional beauty.
115	** Ricky = Richard = Dick. ''Literature/DickAndJane''.
116	** While it's averted with Frank Fitts and Lester Burnham, whose first names aren't that meaningful, Angela and Carolyn could be playing with the trope, too. Angela connotes an angel, someone ethereal, while Carolyn means "womanly." Barbara (Ricky's mother's name) means "stranger." Each of the main female characters' names relates to our first impression of her character, which is later deconstructed.
117	** "Lester Burnham" is an anagram of "[[{{Literature/Lolita}} Humbert]] [[CharacterDevelopment Learns]]".
118	** In a similar vein -- Angela ''Hayes'' as in Dolores ''Haze'', better known as "Lolita."
119	** Who used to live next door to the Burnhams, eventually hiring Buddy Kane to sell the house, resulting in the Fittses moving in? The [[Theatre/DeathOfASalesman Lomans]].
120	* MilitarySchool: Discussed. Ricky's father sent him off to a military school when he was fifteen after catching him smoking dope but Ricky got kicked out and returned home.
121	* MistakenForGay:
122	** Col. Fitts spies on Ricky and Lester getting high, but their unfortunate placement and movements make it look like something sexual from Col Fitts's POV.
123	** [[spoiler:When the colonel has a [[OneDialogueTwoConversations misleading exchange]] with and then tries to kiss Lester]], the latter [[IncompatibleOrientation turns him down]] gently.
124	* MomentKiller: Lester and Carolyn start having their first romantic and intimate moment in ages... until Carolyn becomes distracted when she notices that Lester is going to spill beer on the couch.
125	* MusicalisInterruptus: Carolyn singing in the car, pulling up to her driveway, cuts off mid-last-word-of-the-song at the sight of Lester's new CoolCar.
126	* MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes: Happens to Lester when he dies.
127	-->'''Lester:''' I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn't a second at all. It stretches on forever, like an ocean of time. For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars... and yellow leaves, from the maple trees that lined our street... or my grandmother's hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper... and the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new Firebird... and Janie... and Janie... and... Carolyn.
128	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: "Welcome to America's Weirdest Home Videos."
129	%%* NoodleIncident: The sycamore tree that Carolyn cut down.
130	* NoTellMotel: After having lunch, Carolyn and Buddy make out in a motel room.
131	* NotThatKindOfPartner: Inverted: When welcoming Colonel Fitts to the neighborhood, Jim Olmeyer introduces Jim Berkeley as "my partner". Colonel Fitts asks them to cut to the chase and proceed with the sales pitch, as he presumes they're business partners, and reacts with disgust when he realizes they mean romantic partner.
132	* ObjectTrackingShot: The famous "bag blowing in the wind" scene.
133	* OhAndXDies: The opening narration reveals that Lester will be dead in less than a year. The intrigue comes from wondering how.
134	* OneDialogueTwoConversations: PlayedForDrama. When [[spoiler:Col. Fitts]] wanders over in the rain, Lester's dialogue confirms [[spoiler:his]] (mistaken) perception that Lester is, [[spoiler:like Fitts himself]], a closeted gay man. This leads to the shooting at the end.
135	* OrbitalKiss: Lester and Angela kissing in the kitchen fantasy.
136	* ParentalSexualitySquick: Jane is extremely uncomfortable when Angela talks about boning her dad and wondering what his dick size may be.
137	* {{Patricide}}: Discussed when Jane and Ricky talk about her wish to get her father killed.
138	* PeacefulInDeath: The peaceful expression on Lester's face in his moment of death is not only the result of his growth through the entire film, it also pretty much encapsulates the theme (the spiritual joy of finding "beauty" in the seemingly banal or even supposedly ugly products of everyday life).
139	* PhotosLie: Early on we get a montage of family photos at the Burnham house with the three family members [[FormerlyFriendlyFamily happily smiling]]. This stands in stark contrast to their current situation.
140	* PlotSensitiveLatch: In his opening EstablishingShot as a BumblingDad, Lester's briefcase opens unexpectedly on his way from the house to the car and his office documents scatter around the yard.
141	* PomPomGirl: Angela is of a good nature and can get people into cheers, and she's self-obsessed when not on the job. Jane is affable even when she's not acting as a cheerleader, but even though she's enthusiastic she's not amazing at it. Carolyn mentions how dedicated she is to her routines as well.
142	* PosterGalleryBedroom: Angela's bedroom walls are plastered with posters of various pop stars indicating her strive for popularity.
143	* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Lester's trademark.
144	** When he's working out after Carolyn's lecture: "That's...what...you...think!"
145	** During the violent dinner: "Don't Interrupt Me...honey."''
146	** After his (truncated) romantic moment with his wife: "IT'S! JUST! A! COUCH!"
147	** When he finds out [[spoiler:she is cheating on him]]: "No, no. '''You'''...don't get to tell '''me''' what to do... ever... again."
148	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Lester completes his character arc and finally finds peace and happiness... moments before he's murdered.
149	* RedHerring: Throughout the movie we are led to believe that either [[spoiler: Ricky or Carolyn]] kills Lester.
150	* RepeatCut: Happens whenever Lester fantasizes about Angela:
151	** The moment Angela opens her top in Lester's fantasy sequence at the basketball game.
152	** The moment when Angela feels up Lester in the kitchen.
153	** The moment when Lester reaches his hand into the bathtub.
154	* RightNowMontage: Lester's MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes montage is intercut with scenes of all major characters in their locations reacting to the gunshot going off.
155	* SceneryCensor:
156	** Some of Lester [[FantasySequence fantasies about Angela]] have her nude or stripping, but her naughty bits are always covered by conveniently placed rose petals.
157	** Lester's exposed lower half is covered by objects on the window sill when Ricky films him from his house.
158	* SecretCompartment: Ricky hides his weed under a fake board in his drawer. His father doesn't find it when he suspiciously goes through Ricky's stuff.
159	* SexlessMarriage:
160	** Lester and Carolyn. As Lester says it, "This hasn't been a marriage for years, but you were happy as long as I kept my mouth shut. Well, guess what, I've changed! And the new me whacks off when he feels horny, because you're obviously not gonna help me out in that department!"
161	** Presumably also Col. and Mrs. Fitts, due to [[spoiler:Col. Fitts being a closet homosexual]].
162	* SexyPackaging: If you know nothing about ''American Beauty'', you could be forgiven for thinking it was a porn flick, given the title, the "Look closer" {{Tagline}} and the prominent picture of a woman's midriff and the red rose. Then again, [[FridgeBrilliance this was probably the designer's intention... to look closer and not judge anything by its cover, since the film's most prominent theme is that things are rarely ever as they seem on the surface]].
163	%%* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: Angela to Lester, in his dreams.
164	* ShoutOut:
165	** Lester Burnham = [[Literature/{{Lolita}} Humbert]] Learns.
166	** Note also that Angela's surname (Hayes) is homophonous with Literature/{{Lolita}}'s surname (Haze).
167	** Carolyn desperately embracing Lester's shirts is one to ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby''.
168	** At the beginning of the film Carolyn mentions how the [[Theatre/DeathOfASalesman Lomans]] moved away when she had their tree cut down.
169	* SkewedPriorities: Lester bites Carolyn's head off for being more concerned about beer getting spilled on the couch than having her first intimate moment with him in years.
170	* SoulCrushingDeskJob: Lester Burnham works a soul-sucking desk job that, along with his troubled marriage, he believes is killing him. As part of his midlife crisis, he blackmails his boss, quits his job, and goes back to flipping burgers, which he finds far more satisfying.
171	* SpitTake: Lester spits his beer into the kitchen sink when he hears that Angela is going to stay for the night.
172	* StalkingIsLove: Played straight with Ricky, although he means no harm and initially simply finds her interesting (and he films ''everything'' he finds interesting, not just her), and really does come to love Jane as the film progresses.
173	%%* StepfordSuburbia
174	* StylisticSuck: In a more literal sense than usual for this trope, Carolyn's hairstyle at the corporate party looks fine from the front (as she would see it in a mirror), but when we see her from the side or from behind, it looks flat and clumsy. This was done deliberately to reflect how she hides what a mess she is inside under a facade of success and elegance.
175	* SuburbanGothic: Lester's marriage is unhappy, his daughter resents him, and he's trapped in a dead-end job that he hates.
176	* SuddenlyShouting: Lester yelling, "Sit down!" when Jane tries to leave the dinner table. She and Carolyn are shocked that Lester has actually raised his voice.
177	* TableSpace: The Burnhams have a fairly large dinner table in their living room. The increased space conveys the estrangement between the family members when they dine together.
178	* TakeThisJobAndShoveIt: Lester says as much with his sarcastic description of his own job.
179	* TantrumThrowing: Lester throwing a plate of food against a wall.
180	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Or marriage counselors, apparently.
181	* TilMurderDoUsPart: Carolyn thinks killing Lester would be a suitable way to put an end to their miserable marriage.
182	* TrespassingToTalk: Col. Fitts is waiting for Ricky in the dark of his room to confront him about the [[MistakenForGay perceived gay activity]] in Lester's garage.
183	* VisualTitleDrop: The "American Beauty" rose is prominently featured (see FlowerMotifs above).
184	* WallOfWeapons: Col. Fitts has a wall of firearms in his house.
185	* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"This is my first time."]]
186	* WhenIWasYourAge: Brought up twice:
187	** When Lester sees all the expensive, drug-financed equipment in Ricky's room, he mentions that at Ricky's age, he was flipping burgers all summer just to buy an 8-track.
188	** When Carolyn has a fallout with Jane, she says that at Jane's age, she was living in a duplex rather than having her own room in a nice house.
189	* WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou:
190	** Subverted. Carolyn hits Jane but actually ''stops'' crying and apologizing as she does so, as Jane was having none of her mother's emotional blackmail.
191	** Played straight with Ricky and Col. Fitts. Fitts brutally beats Ricky and then goes on a tirade about all the things Ricky does wrong to justify it.
192	* WorldOfSymbolism: In the first shot of Lester at work, he's reflected on a computer monitor, and the onscreen text looks like jail bars. That's just ONE example. The film is ripe for media classes to dissect.
193	* WouldHurtAChild: Both Jane and Ricky get hit by their parents in the same scene with the other watching. Both Carolyn and Frank hit their children in fits of rage.
194	* YouAreWhatYouHate:
195	** [[spoiler:Col. Fitts]] is violently homophobic. We ultimately learn that this stems from his shame over being homosexual himself.
196	** Angela looks down on people she considers boring and ordinary to mask her insecurity over her own shallow, superficial personality.

Context Film / AmericanBeauty