Movie

American Beauty

by Alan Ball, Lester Burnham, Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch and 78 others

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

(20 total)

Characters

Alan Ball (20)Kevin Spacey (9)Lester Burnham (9)Wes Bentley (4)Ricky Fitts (4)Carolyn Burnham (3)Annette Bening (3)Mena Suvari (2)Angela Hayes (2)Chris Cooper (1)

“If people I don't even know look at me and want to fuck me, it means I really have a shot at being a model.”

— Alan Ball, Angela Hayes, Mena Suvari, imdb.com

Tagged: Fuck, model, Attractive

“I don't think that there's anything worse than being ordinary.”

— Alan Ball, Angela Hayes, Mena Suvari, imdb.com

Tagged: Ordinary

“Mr. Smiley's Counter Girl: Whoa! You are so busted. Carolyn Burnham: You know, this really doesn't concern you. Lester Burnham: Well, actually, Janine is Senior Drive-thru Manager so you are on her turf.”

— Alan Ball, Carolyn Burnham, Annette Bening, imdb.com

Tagged: busted

“In order to be successful, one must project an image of success at all times.”

— Alan Ball, Buddy Kane, Peter Gallagher, imdb.com

Tagged: Success, Image

“Look at me, jerking off in the shower….This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.”

— Alan Ball, Lester Burnham, Kevin Spacey, imdb.com

Tagged: Jerking Off, all downhill

“Ricky Fitts: It's like God's looking right at you, just for a second, and if you're careful... you can look right back. Jane Burnham: And what do you see? Ricky Fitts: Beauty.”

— Alan Ball, Ricky Fitts, Wes Bentley, imdb.com

Tagged: God, beauty

“Angela Hayes: Yeah? Well, at least I'm not ugly! Ricky Fitts: Yes, you are. And you're boring, and you're totally ordinary, and you know it.”

— Alan Ball, Ricky Fitts, Wes Bentley, imdb.com

Tagged: ugly, Boring, Ordinary

“Brad Dupree: Got a minute? Lester Burnham: [Phony, overly polite voice] For you, Brad, I've got five!”

— Alan Ball, Lester Burnham, Kevin Spacey, imdb.com

Tagged: Sarcasm, got a minute?

“Lester Burnham: How's Jane? Angela Hayes: What do you mean? Lester Burnham: I mean, how's her life? Is she happy? Is she miserable? I'd really like to know, and she'd die before she'd ever tell me about it. Angela Hayes: She's... she's really happy. She thinks she's in love. Lester Burnham: Good for…”

— Alan Ball, Lester Burnham, Kevin Spacey, imdb.com

Tagged: Happy, Miserable, In love

“It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself.”

— Alan Ball, Lester Burnham, Kevin Spacey, imdb.com

Tagged: surprise

“Carolyn Burnham: Uh, whose car is that out front? Lester Burnham: Mine. 1970 Pontiac Firebird. The car I've always wanted and now I have it. I rule!”

— Alan Ball, Carolyn Burnham, Annette Bening, imdb.com

Tagged: I Rule, Pontiac Firebird

“Carolyn Burnham: What are you doing? Lester Burnham: Nothing. Carolyn Burnham: You were masturbating! Lester Burnham: I was not. Carolyn Burnham: Yes you were! Lester Burnham: Oh, all right! So shoot me, I was whacking off! That's right, I was choking the bishop, chafing the carrot, you know, saying…”

— Alan Ball, Carolyn Burnham, Annette Bening, imdb.com

Tagged: masturbating

“Catering Boss: I'm not paying you to do... whatever it is you're doing out here. Ricky Fitts: Fine. So don't pay me. Catering Boss: Excuse me? Ricky Fitts: I quit. So you don't have to pay me. Now leave me alone. Catering Boss: ...asshole. Lester Burnham: [stunned] I think you just became my persona…”

— Alan Ball, Ricky Fitts, Wes Bentley, imdb.com

Tagged: Quitting, asshole, personal hero

“My name is Lester Burnham. This is my neighborhood; this is my street; this is my life. I am 42 years old; in less than a year I will be dead. Of course I don't know that yet, and in a way, I am dead already.”

— Alan Ball, Lester Burnham, Kevin Spacey, imdb.com

Tagged: Dead Inside

“It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing and there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. Right? And this bag was just dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. That's the day I realized that there was this entire life be…”

— Alan Ball, Ricky Fitts, Wes Bentley, imdb.com

Tagged: benevolent, Snow, Video, Electricity

“[Lester has just caught Caroline cheating with the Real Estate King] Carolyn Burnham: Uh, Buddy, this is my... Lester Burnham: Her husband. We've met before, but something tells me you're going to remember me this time.”

— Alan Ball, Lester Burnham, Kevin Spacey, imdb.com

Tagged: Cheating, Cuckolding

“Remember those posters that said, 'Today is the first day of the rest of your life'? Well, that's true of every day but one—the day you die.”

— Alan Ball, Lester Burnham, Kevin Spacey, imdb.com

Tagged: Death, hopeless

“[at the dinner table] Carolyn Burnham: Your father and I were just discussing his day at work. Why don't you tell our daughter about it, honey? Lester Burnham: Janie, today I quit my job. And then I told my boss to go fuck himself, and then I blackmailed him for almost sixty thousand dollars. Pass t…”

— Alan Ball, Lester Burnham, Kevin Spacey, imdb.com

Tagged: Unemployment, Quitting, Mother in Law, Blackmail

“Colonel Frank Fitts: Where did you get that? Ricky Fitts: From my job. Colonel Frank Fitts: Don't lie to me. Now, I saw you with him. Ricky Fitts: You were watching me? Colonel Frank Fitts: What did he make you do? Ricky Fitts: Oh, Dad, you don't really think that me and Mr. Burnham were... Colonel…”

— Alan Ball, Colonel Frank Fitts, Chris Cooper, imdb.com

Tagged: Sucking Dick, male prostitution, Old Man, Fucking

“I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn't a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time... For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars... And yellow leaves, from the…”

— Alan Ball, Lester Burnham, Kevin Spacey, imdb.com

Tagged: firebird, Pissed Off, boy scout, life flashing before your eyes