Father Knows Best

American Beauty (1999):
What’s It About?: Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is in a loveless marriage with Caroline (Annette Bening), and at odds with his daughter Janie (Thora Birch). His new neighbor (Chris Cooper) is ever watchful of his son (Wes Bentley), who in turn falls for Janie. But when Les falls in love (or lust) with Janie’s best friend Angela (Mena Suvari), he has a mid-life crisis, throws caution to the wind, and sets himself up on a path to his imminent death.
How Good Is It?: The suburban rut never looked so good. With huge gobs of fascinating scenes, vastly impressive acting and gorgeous scene composition, American Beauty is one of the most appreciated of recent winners, in that it touches all types of people with a universal theme of isolation. The screenplay may lack a wee bit when it comes to certain things (character names, hackneyed scenarios), but it’s so creative, funny, true and sad that its easy to overlook them. The first Best Picture winner to make it into my DVD collection, it’s nearly impossible to forget, and magical in its own beautiful way.
Was it Best Picture?: Yes, and it ain’t easy. There's the audience favorite Sixth Sense, the critically lauded The Insider and the “we should have given something to Shawshank” follow-up The Green Mile to contend with, but American Beauty, especially in retrospect, wins in a walk. It’s as close to perfect as the Oscars have gotten in a long time.