American Beauty fingerprintFunny, immersive world.
Tense
Builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
Profoundly sad and moving
Much of it is about family and growing up.
Plenty of dark humor and satire
Everyday modern life, family, and the mind
Lived-in and easy to get lost in. Holds up on a rewatch.
Standout direction, performances, and characters
Standout cinematography, editing, and score
A distinctive visual signature.
Tense
Builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
American Beauty is tense. The story builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
Profoundly sad and moving
Much of it is about family and growing up.
Emotionally, it's profoundly sad and moving. Much of it is about family and growing up.
Plenty of dark humor and satire
Expect plenty of dark humor and satire.
Everyday modern life, family, and the mind
Lived-in and easy to get lost in. Holds up on a rewatch.
Its world is built around everyday modern life, family, and the mind. The setting feels lived-in and easy to get lost in. It holds up on a rewatch.
Standout direction, performances, and characters
The direction, performances, and characters stand out.
Standout cinematography, editing, and score
A distinctive visual signature.
Look and sound: the cinematography, editing, and score stand out.
Based on the GoodWatch fingerprint: our scores for 70+ attributes of every movie. Select a row to see all of them.
... look closer
Overall: Similar vibe.
Quick answers from GoodWatch data.
American Beauty is included with a subscription to fuboTV and Paramount+ in the United States. You can watch it free with ads on Hoopla. You can also rent or buy it from Apple TV, JustWatch TV, Amazon Video, and Apple TV Store. All links in Where to Watch go to these licensed services.
Yes. It's widely acclaimed, with a GoodWatch score of 86/100 (IMDb 8.3, Rotten Tomatoes 87%, and Metacritic 84). The GoodWatch score combines critic and audience ratings.
It's rated R in the United States. Content advisories: nudity, sexual content, strong language, drug use, and violence.
2 h 2 min
American Beauty runs 2 h 2 min.
Yes. Critics average 86 and audiences 88 out of 100, so both groups see American Beauty much the same way.
Yes, a big one. It cost about $15 million to make and earned $356 million worldwide, 23.8 times its budget.
It was made in English. Produced in United States.
+101GoodWatch finds legal streaming, rental, or purchase options for American Beauty in 115 countries. Pick any of them in Where to Watch to see the local services.
TV Tropes lists 120 storytelling tropes for American Beauty, including Repeat Cut, Chekhov's Gun, Annoying Dinner Music.
8.3
