Lester Burnham is a 42 yr old man who is disliked by his wife Caroline and teenage daughter Jane. Caroline is a slick saleswoman who dreams of getting rich and perfect but in the process she neglects her hubby and treats him like he doesnt exist. They are too keen on projecting the happy couple to the outer world but in reality they are not..
Their daughter Jane is typical brat .One day another family comes to their neighborhood .. Jane starts to like the neighbourhood psycho boy Ricky Fitts who keeps on filming everything for no apparant reasons.
Once Lester and family goes to the Janes school event and they meet her friend Angella who is very fond of showing herself and her relationships. In her own words ’’She doesnt think anything is worst than being ’ordinary’. And then Lester starts dreaming about Angela, she becoems an object of lust for him.
He is already pissed off from his dull work and One fine day the new efficiency experts ( presumably so called management consultants who typically suggest lay offs in order to save expenses of their clients) threaten to sack Lester .. In the meanwhile everyone of the Burnham family decides to make certain changes in their life . Lester doesnt care for his job and blackmails his boss for a good compensation after the layoff and starts living his life in his own way.
He starts doing exercise and weights to gain muscles to impress Angela..He also starts taking drugs provided by non other than Ricky ( the neighbourhood psycho boy).
Caroline (lesters wife) gets impressed by other salesman (Kane) who is more successful. She likes him and sleeps with him. Lester after getting fired starts doing a Mcjob( a fast food restaurent kinda low paying job). He doesnt care about his wifes behaviour.
Then sometime later Rick meets Lester in his garage for selling the drugs and Ricks father who is army man sees him there . He is mistaken and thinks that they are having a gay relatioinship. He expels Rick from home.
The only good person in Lesters life is Angela who is very mature for her age. One day when finally they (Lester and his obsession Anglea) meet alone at Lesters home. But Lester probably has some kindof relevation when he sees her naked.
He doesnt take her but instead thinks something else
Finally Lesters life ends abruptly as Ricks father shots him in the head.
When I saw American Beauty first I didnt like it. It was totally tragic. In the second viewing I started liking it.And everytime I see this movie I discover something new.
Every character in this movies is mad after something and it decides to do certain changes
This movies is pretty sarcastic. sometimes funny. I couldnt help but sympathise with Lester Burnhan who tries to be more and more free as the movie progresses.
Life is very cruel for him But finally he has no regrets as he says in his last monlogue
’’I?d 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 ... and Jany ... and Jany! ...... and ... Caroline! I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what really happened to me but it’s hard to stay mad, when there’s so much beauty in the world.
Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry... you will someday’’