 What is the plot of American Beauty?
Early in American Beauty , Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a weary reporter for a media magazine, masturbates in the shower while informing us in voice-over that we're witnessing the highlight of his day. Apparently, Lester doesn't realize that snipped roses are garden-variety symbols of castration, or he'd know what he has lost. A merican Beauty is so wittily written and gorgeously directed that you might think you're seeing something archetypal--maybe even the Great American Movie. In movies like sex, lies, and videotape (1989), the protagonist has to put away the video camera to "get real"; in American Beauty , it's Ricky Fitts, the damaged stoner videomaker next door, who sees beauty where nonartists see only horror or nothingness.
 An American nuclear family is on the verge of a meltdown.
 A middle-aged man tries to seduce a high school cheerleader.  A middle-aged couple's marriage breaks down.  A middle-aged man goes through a mid-life crisis.  An American nuclear family is on the verge of a meltdown.