american thingie
by: drunk buff film drinking drunk ()
Comment No. 1 02-Nov-2002, 18:39 GMT
ok, i know this film. i like it. twas a good watch. it certainly somes up the american teenage sub-culture and comments well upon the narsistic capitalistic heirachy that exsists in america. the satirical and sarcstic take of THE IDEAL AMERICAN FAMILY works in correspondance to the underpinning american dream sub-plot. not only did i enjoy seeing that foriegn exchange student get her boobs out, but i also found a few moments to be rather hilarious. in particular, the father son, coming of age conversations between Jim and his dad. The pie banging scenario is also classic contempory cinema viewing. god, i am really getting drunk as the minutes pass. i'm loosing my verseyversey vocabullarary and my ability ability to gramammamatise
Dude, you were writing about American Pie! What a moron.
Anyway, it's obvious why this screenplay has had so many views. Alan Ball's writing has a certain magical quality to it. For some reason, the imagery and flow of the whole play have a certain spark. The tumult experienced between the characters is interesting and, most importantly, realistic. I knew tons of kids like Angela in high school. Carolyn is the typically superficial housewife. And Lester, well, what can you say. My friend went as far to say as Lester Burnham is the best written character in modern cinema. The span of his change and his inner monologue is so fascinating, even as he's pondering devious actions. We all have pondered at least one of the things he has during the course of our lives. It doesn't make him a bad person, just human. The ending, though, has to be my favorite. It's tragic, yet inspiring at the same time. Awesome.
i read through this script several times, at first I was amazed, the 2nd time even more amazed, but by the time I read the final part for third time: i was flabbergasted yet inspired! this is one of the best screenplays i have ever read!
PS: the very last sentence gave me goose bumps.lol
great film but i thought the screenplay didn't express the characters as well as the film did. some of the lines cut from the actual film make the characters all have there own personality but in the screenplay sometimes they sound similar. e.g. some of the lines ricky says in the screenplay destroy the idea of a character who is quiet yet confident and very different from all the others.
Otherwise it's brilliant. Great film. Modern classic.
God, this beginning is terrible. God thing they cut it. I'd heard the script had some good partscut out from the movie, but what I disliked about the movie (and there were things I liked too) was this whole stupid farce about how Lester has to be murdered at the end - as if it were some kind crime or thriller movie.
This courtroom scene at the beginning is awful. Oh well.
I have to start by saying this is a screenplay for any aspiring writer to hold in great admiration and esteem. Personally I feel the reason this script went so well had to do with the character content. You don't get a real understanding from the film but by reading the screenplay you can see how American Beauty is progressed through dialog and character development rather than scenery and imagery. Not to say teh imagery picture painted wasn't incredible but I think it's more icing on the cake. The real beauty was the imperfection in the various characters. Each had something to "good" at heart but was unable to express it vulnerably. Anyway, in one mild amateurs opinion this is one of the greatest screenplays written, right up there with the likes of Pulp Fiction, Citizen Kane, among others.
It's certainly a tightly written screenplay, but I wonder how it reads if you haven't seen the movie. If one hasn't seen how beautifully Conrad L. Hall and Sam Mendes realized Lester's fantasies on film, it doesn't have half the impact. The image of roses in the screenplay ooze with overt symbolism, and the pseudo profound dialogue from Ricky is almost eye-rolling. I never like movies with teenagers, especially when one is given lines that are supposed to cary some degree of weight. Kevin Spacey was perfectly cast, and its tough to imagine the film without him. He brought integrity to the role, certainly.
In summation, it's a good screenplay, but if another director had it, it likely would have been just an average movie.
Subtle, poignant, witty, enigmatic, tense, this is a masterful script, one of the most realistic domestic scripts i've ever read. I agree that without watching the film, this wouldn't have the same impact, with Conrad's cinematography, Mendes' direction, the entire casts closely focused performances and Newman's gentle score. However the script has a lot to work from, and Mendes managed to bring it out in a way i'm sure no other director on the planet could. This like 'Road To Perdition' is conrads film, he makes the whole visual experience absorbing and beautiful.
I saw this film when it first came out, and all I have to say is that it was wonderfully written and acted out. Kevin Spacey is a superb actor and anything he's in is well worth seeing.
This movie was amazing, eye-opener, helps one look into himself, simply outstanding. It would be too small words just to call it a movie. I have never been moved like this before.
The 3 scenes that stayed in my mind were:
1. when Ricky Fitts is shooting with the camera and catches jane smiling in the mirror, while Angela is making poses. It feels so nice to see genuine happiness.
2. scene between lester and Angela is one of the most well created romantic and erotic scene. The dialogues, expressions, music and the rain behind add the beauty.
3. in the end where lester smiles on hearing that jane is in love. its such a genuine smile coming from a father who is happy to know her child has found himself. shows real happiness which he hadn't felt in a long time. just very good to watch.
Sam Mendes can attribute his rarely precendented and auspiciously successful transition from the theatre to the silver screen to many factors. The first and most obvious is this gem of a screenplay by Alan Ball. The brilliant narrative description creates what many script readers refer to as a "fast read". Perhaps that's why Spielberg and Dreamworks were so receptive. Ball is able to incorporate effectively terse scene descriptions with natural dialouge. Ball is clearly a writer's director and devotes a great of attention to detail without compromising the fluidity of action by breaking things down to minutia. It is no wonder that other people dedicated to craftmanship such as Spacey, Mendes, and Hall would gravitate a script like this. I will have to concur with 'MovieGuy' in his assesment of the ending. This is a flawless screenplay and a fantastic movie. In this era of 150 million dollar 'popcorn' flicks, it is gratifying to still see bona fide filmaking that places emphasis on characterization.
When I saw this movie,I was swept away. As a young screenwriter, I look at this movie for inspiration. I have never seen a film so briliantly done. Conrad L. Hall really created the images n audience should see for this type of film and Thomas Newman's Score is simplty brilliant. His sound is so moving at moments and in other moments it is so up beat. It really brought the story to life. Sam Mendes was also brilliant in directing this film. He has done a superb job. This film really captured its audience and it made one feel as if they were in the movie with the other characters. It really says something about humanity and the way us humans precieve things to be. I was truly inspired.Thank you Alan Ball.
Loved the film and thought the screenplay was as brilliant as everyone else above, but one more comment is needed. If you are an aspiring screenwriter, admire this screenplay for its content such as characters, narration, etc., but do not admire it for its style or format. You're probably writing a spec script and you're not Alan Ball. What that means is not that you're not necessarily as good as a writer as Mr. Ball but that you don't have the fame or power to get away with writing a spec script that's borderline a shooting script (e.g. countless camera directions). Just a word of caution...probably half a decade too late.
This script is my bible. My guide. Whenever I feel like I can't write a good script or I'm lost, I read this screenplay and I feel better again. This was the first screenplay I bought and read -- its very dear to me. The screenplay is beautiful. I love it and always will. I'm waiting for another Alan Ball movie. lol. And also, check out his show "six feet under" it's one of a kind!!
I thought the movie was excellent. I thought this screenplay was great as well. I happen to like this screenplay, I like the beginning. I think this film would have worked equally well if the beginning of this screenplay was presented in the movies. It set up an interesting mood for Lester's introduction. The courtroom scene shows us the sad reality and a few opinions about Lester as a person, and then we get to hear Lester himself, explaining his life, and showing the insanity people he has to eal with. Good stuff.
i think it was a good film and script, i've been writting movies afor ever , i've written moviesl
like the scret thought, secret wisper, nerd school, the guest house, and rgret and all of them were preety good.
well, to all my friends and family they were. yeah i think it was good.
i read this script and was moved to watch the movie. But in African countries, this things rarely happens. Besides i screenplay too. But i am yet to produced a script as good as these. American pie or no American pie, This movie "American beauty" is very unique.
This is one of the most beautiful pieces ever written, regardless of form. The movie was good, excellent even ... but reading this screenplay, I nearly cried.
I loved this movie so much. The theme was beautiful. Started out with lester who is a depressed and steamy minded man talking about his life which is slow and depressing. He is self loving in the shower because his wife who hates him to death and has not had sex with him in a long time. His daughter hates him no less and always gets angry with him. His job kills him everyday at work. FInally he turns around his awful life when he meets his daughter's sexy slut friend Angela. He falls in love with angela and fantasizes about her.
i think that this man hadn't lived .....he has just gone at work.live the routine and nothing else.....he has not lived and in inconsions he began to act as adoleschent , and ather things...he hasn't lived that period of time and now he regress acting and doing that things that he hasn done....he now was exploring .....he began to live and to get out of that routine of life and he fell good but it was strange life for his age....so it seems to me.he become selfcetrate as an adolesent
If you ever are interested in writting a sricpt where parts of the screenplays are in your own country wher eeach person has similar challenges, happiness, sadness etc.., lets talk, I'm a Producer/Director/Script Writter for Short Film, this can be fun.
Great film, fascinating screenplay. I was surprised to see the differences in Carolyn as a character on the page measured against Mendes' direction, and Annette Bening's craft. She's a pretty cold bitch throughout the screenplay, with no redemption. But in the film, we see her cracks. The scene of her sobbing against Lester's clothes once she grasps that he is gone is one of the most powerful moments in the film; and speaks to how Carolyn lost herself along the way, just like Lester did. It gives us hope that she may also rediscover her humanity. And I think cutting out the courtroom/prison scenes was a very wise move. In the film, despite its tragedy, we are left with a sense of hope.
