American Beauty is the most amazing movie ever.

I know I put this as my number two favorite a bit ago, because I could not, in good faith, put it before 'It's a Wonderful Life.' However, this is one of those movies where the more I watch it, the more I love it, understand it, learn from it, and cherish it. Ok, that last bit sounded corny and lame, but seriously...

Everything about this movie is perfect. Every role, even the smallest parts, are outstanding. Yes, we all know Kevin Spacey is the shiznit, and Annette Bening is great and all, but how about Wes Bentley explaining why a simple plastic bag floating in the wind is beautiful (however much it was parodied in other movies)? Or the girl that Angela and Jane run into at school, who tells off Angela and says, 'Stop acting like you're God damn Christie Turlington!' The brilliant, little things we just hear in passing, like how Annette Bening's shear handles match her gardening clogs, or how Mena Suvari's last name 'Hayes' is a play on the character Lolita Haze in 'Lolita,' which is a novel dealing with similar subject matter.

The musical score is so soothing, and so flawless that I listen to it often. And the beautiful representation of the rose petals throughout the movie... the concept of nothing being what it seems (pleasant, typical suburban house is not quite so typical)... huge character arcs for everyone in the movie (except maybe Chris Cooper, who is always great in any role)...

Few movies can make me both happy and sad, pessimistic and optimistic at the same time. This is one of them. There's so many small things to notice. I 'like' a lot of movies, and 'love' only a few. This is one of them. Is it stupid to love something that's just a roll of film, a collection of sound and vision, a little circular DVD that reads in an electronic player? Maybe. Possibly. But who the hell cares?