---
title: 'American Beauty (1999)'
type: 'film'
director: 'Sam Mendes'
released: '1999-09-08'
runtime_minutes: 121
certification: 'R'
genres:
  - 'Drama'
  - 'Comedy'
countries:
  - 'United States'
canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/movies/american-beauty-1999'
review_count: 0
imdb: 'https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169547/'
publisher: 'CinePixo'
---

# American Beauty (1999)

1999 · R · 121 min · Drama, Comedy · United States


## Synopsis

American Beauty is a 1999 American black comedy and psychological drama film directed by Sam Mendes in his feature directorial debut, and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, an advertising executive who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, played by Mena Suvari. Annette Bening stars as Lester's materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter, Jane. Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper, Peter Gallagher, and Allison Janney co-star. Academics have described the film as satirizing how beauty and personal satisfaction are perceived by the American middle class; further analysis has focused on the film's explorations of romantic and paternal love, sexuality, materialism, and self-liberation.

## Credits

- **Producer:** [Bruce Cohen](https://cinepixo.com/people/bruce-cohen), [Dan Jinks](https://cinepixo.com/people/dan-jinks)
- **Director:** [Sam Mendes](https://cinepixo.com/people/sam-mendes)
- **Screenplay:** [Alan Ball](https://cinepixo.com/people/alan-ball)
- **Original Music Composer:** [Thomas Newman](https://cinepixo.com/people/thomas-newman)
- **Editor:** [Christopher Greenbury](https://cinepixo.com/people/christopher-greenbury), [Tariq Anwar](https://cinepixo.com/people/tariq-anwar)

## Cast

- [Kevin Spacey](https://cinepixo.com/people/kevin-spacey) as Lester Burnham
- [Annette Bening](https://cinepixo.com/people/annette-bening)
- [Thora Birch](https://cinepixo.com/people/thora-birch)
- [Wes Bentley](https://cinepixo.com/people/wes-bentley)
- [Mena Suvari](https://cinepixo.com/people/mena-suvari)
- [Barry Del Sherman](https://cinepixo.com/people/barry-del-sherman)
- [John Cho](https://cinepixo.com/people/john-cho)
- [Chris Cooper](https://cinepixo.com/people/chris-cooper)
- [Joel McCrary](https://cinepixo.com/people/joel-mccrary)
- [Sam Robards](https://cinepixo.com/people/sam-robards)
- [Allison Janney](https://cinepixo.com/people/allison-janney)
- [Bruce Cohen](https://cinepixo.com/people/bruce-cohen)
- [Amber Smith](https://cinepixo.com/people/amber-smith)
- [Scott Bakula](https://cinepixo.com/people/scott-bakula)
- [Peter Gallagher](https://cinepixo.com/people/peter-gallagher)

## Criticism on CinePixo

No reviews published yet.

Source: https://cinepixo.com/movies/american-beauty-1999
Film facts: Wikidata (Q25139); synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reviews, themes and notes are the work of this site's members.