6. “American Beauty” (1999)
1999 is often described as a landmark year for American cinema, and for good reason. It was the year that gave us “Being John Malkovich,” “The Iron Giant,” and “Magnolia.” But if there was an undercurrent to some of the most explosive works of that year, it was the through line of the office drone, fed up with his crummy existence, making great and often times extravagant deviations from the path life had set up for him (and, sadly, it was almost always a “him”). Everything from “The Matrix” to “Election” to “Fight Club” to “Office Space” offered this up as a core narrative tenant. But it was “American Beauty,” for whatever reason, that most identified with, with the film earning strong commercial and critical support, going on to win Best Picture. And, lets be honest, for all of Sam Mendes’ artfully choreographed direction and Alan Ball’s modernized philosophizing script, it was Kevin Spacey’s portrayal, of a man pushed too far and refusing to come back, that made the movie such a resonant, believable, and entertaining experience. All the moments that you really, truly remember from the film belong to him – his rekindled spirit as a drive-thru attendant (where he catches his wife mischievously cheating on him), the fist-pumping triumph in his line deliver of the words “I rule,” and the dreamy infatuation he has with his teenage daughter’s best friend. In a less gifted actor’s hands, the delicate balancing act of both Ball’s heightened script and Mendes’ occasionally operatic direction could have fallen apart. But with Spacey in the lead (in a performance that won him an Oscar, his second), he held it together and was largely responsible for the success it became. In the years since, “American Beauty” may have turned out to be the blandest alumnus of the class of ’99, but Spacey’s work still gives cause for celebration.
Alternates: Spacey’s also great as weaselly office manager Williamson in “Glengarry Glen Ross” and while Clint Eastwood’s “Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil” is no great shakes, Spacey’s central performance is undervalued. His very different vocal turns in “A Bug’s Life” and “Moon” are both strong, while Jay Roach’s “Recount” probably hosted his best screen performance of the last decade. — Matthew Newlin, Mark Zhuravsky, Sam Price, Oliver Lyttelton, Drew Taylor
