"Look closer" is the tagline for the film American Beauty. This is exactly what this film does. It opens with what on the surface appears to be any ordinary family. In most respects, they are any ordinary family - and that's the point.

As the film progresses, we discover that in the midst of normalcy are cracks and quirks that are just waiting to burst to the surface. Everything is not as it seems and the most perfect lives aren't perfect at all.

Kevin Spacey delivers an amazing performance as Lester Burnham, an ordinary man stuck in an ordinary life. His life is boring and stupid and he knows it's boring and stupid. Lester's wife and daughter hold him in contempt, seeing him as an ineffectual fixture in their lives. His job appears to be the sort of numbing work that no one would want, yet he has to fight to stay in the rut. Despite all of this, Lester seems resigned to his fate because, really, what else is there?

He finds out one evening when he meets one of his daughter's cheerleading pals (played by Mena Suvari). This girl sparks a desire in him that he thought was long dead. From the first moment he sees her, he begins to have fantasies about her. At first it's easy to dismiss Lester's actions as the so-called midlife crisis - he quits his job, lusts after high school girls, buys a muscle car - but it's soon clear that this is much more than that. Not only does Lester regain something of his youth, he regains something of his life. He's no longer content with being a fixture. Now he genuinely wants to improve himself.

Naturally, Lester's actions have consequences to those around him. His wife, Carolyn (Annette Benning), thinks he's gone crazy when she finds him in the garage, pumping iron and smoking a joint. Meanwhile, his daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), is disgusted with him for his obvious attraction to her friend Angela (Mina Suvari). During all of this, the new neighbor kid, Ricky, records all of this on his video camera, acting as some sort of detached documentarian. Eventually, Ricky becomes involved with the family as he becomes Lester's dope supplier and falls for Jane, making plans to run away from home with her. We also learn that Ricky is struggling with an abusive father.

It would be wrong to discuss too much more of the plot because the great joy of this film is simply seeing how everything unfolds as all of the characters' lives intertwine. Like the tagline teases, there is much more to this film than what it seems - you just have to look closer.