American Beauty (Widescreen Edition)
by Sam Mendes
List Price:
Our Price: $3.99
You Save: $9.00 (69%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.91 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Annette Bening, Chris Cooper, Peter Gallagher, Sam Robards, Thora BirchDirector: Sam Mendes
Brand: Paramount
Cinematographer: Conrad L. Hall
Composer: Thomas Newman
Editor: Christopher Greenbury
Editor: Tariq Anwar
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 122 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-10-24
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: 85382
Studio: Dreamworks Video
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; DTS Surround Sound; DVD; Special Edition; Widescreen; NTSC
Summary of American Beauty (Widescreen Edition)
Marking the feature film directorial debut of award-winning theatre director Sam Mendes this funny moving and shocking journey through life in suburban America follows the trials and tribulations of Lester (Kevin Spacey) and Carolyn (Annette Bening) an upper-middle class couple whose marriage - and lives - are slowly unraveling. Lester s wife hates him his daughter Jane regards him with contempt and his boss is positioning him for the ax. So Lester decides to make a few changes in his life; the freer he gets the happier he gets which is even more maddening to his wife and daughter. But Lester is about to learn that the ultimate freedom comes at the ultimate price. Winner of five Academy Awards: Best Picture Director Actor Screenplay and Cinematography.System Requirements:Starring: Kevin Spacey Annette Bening Thora Birch Chris Cooper Peter Gallagher Mena Suvari and Wes Bentley. Directed By: Sam Mendes. Running Time: 122 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 Universal Distribution Corp.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 667068538229 Manufacturer No: 65382From its first gliding aerial shot of a generic suburban street, American Beauty moves with a mesmerizing confidence and acuity epitomized by Kevin Spacey's calm narration. Spacey is Lester Burnham, a harried Everyman whose midlife awakening is the spine of the story, and his very first lines hook us with their teasing fatalism--like Sunset Boulevard's Joe Gillis, Burnham tells us his story from beyond the grave.
It's an audacious start for a film that justifies that audacity. Weaving social satire, domestic tragedy, and whodunit into a single package, Alan Ball's first theatrical script dares to blur generic lines and keep us off balance, winking seamlessly from dark, scabrous comedy to deeply moving drama. The Burnham family joins the cinematic short list of great dysfunctional American families, as Lester is pitted against his manic, materialistic realtor wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening, making the most of a mostly unsympathetic role) and his sullen, contemptuous teenaged daughter, Jane (Thora Birch, utterly convincing in her edgy balance of self-absorption and wistful longing). Into their lives come two catalytic outsiders. A young cheerleader (Mena Suvari) jolts Lester into a sexual epiphany that blooms into a second adolescence. And an eerily calm young neighbor (Wes Bentley) transforms both Lester and Jane with his canny influence.
Credit another big-screen newcomer, English theatrical director Sam Mendes, with expertly juggling these potentially disjunctive elements into a superb ensemble piece that achieves a stylized pace without lapsing into transparent self-indulgence. Mendes has shrewdly insured his success with a solid crew of stage veterans, yet he's also made an inspired discovery in Bentley, whose Ricky Fitts becomes a fulcrum for both plot and theme. Cinematographer Conrad Hall's sumptuous visual design further elevates the film, infusing the beige interiors of the Burnhams' lives with vivid bursts of deep crimson, the color of roses--and of blood. --Sam Sutherland
No Country for Old MenBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2008-03-11; DVD
Best price: $8.60
Price in other shops:
Snatch (Widescreen Edition)Sony; Release date: 2003-06-03; DVD
Best price: $4.53
Price in other shops:
Cape FearUNI DIST CORP. (MCA); Release date: 2005-08-23; DVD
Best price: $6.91
Price in other shops:
Almost FamousParamount; Release date: 2001-03-13; Published: 2001-03-01; DVD
Best price: $5.83
Price in other shops:
Blue Velvet (Special Edition)Sony; Release date: 2002-06-04; DVD
Best price: $5.93
Price in other shops:
Seven (Single Disc Edition)Warner Home Video; Release date: 2004-02-03; DVD
Best price: $3.90
Price in other shops:
Pulp Fiction (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2002-08-20; DVD
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Good Will Hunting (Miramax Collector's Series)Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 1998-12-08; DVD
Best price: $7.28
Price in other shops:
The Usual Suspects (Special Edition)BYRNE,GABRIEL; Release date: 2002-04-02; DVD
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
Braveheart (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)Paramount; Release date: 2007-12-18; Published: 2007-12-01; DVD
Best price: $7.13
Price in other shops: