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iammyownrushmore  ·  3713 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Fifteen Years Later, ‘American Beauty’ Is Just A Bad, Pretty Movie

    He comes crashing up against the brick wall of the worthlessness of these American principles by which he has lived, and it leads to the slow inevitable wrecking of his and his family's life.

    ...am I seeing things in American films that aren't there, or are the reviewers missing the appalled fixation of the filmmaker's stare?

No, you're right. What the reviewer actually means is : "this film wouldn't be lionized in today's culture."

The author's comment about it being being 'Lolita with a Humbert we're supposed to love' is a little dense, since, in the end, Lester becomes aware that he was trading values for a shallow fantasy. It's almost like they never saw the end or something.