American Beauty is a black comedy that centers around Lester Burnham, a stressed-out businessman who is having a midlife crisis. He develops an infatuation with his daughter Jane’s cheerleader friend, Angela, quits his job, and takes a job at a fast-food burger joint.
Lester starts smoking pot, buys his dream car, and begins working out after hearing Angela tell Jane that she might sleep with him if he improved his physique. Meanwhile, his wife Carolyn starts an affair with a fellow realtor named Buddy Kane, and they get a new neighbor named Frank Fitts.
Fitts is an ex-military man and disciplinarian whose son, Ricky, starts dating Lester’s daughter Jane and starts selling marijuana to Lester. Ricky is an avid film buff who uses his camcorder to film everything around him. Lester flirts with Angela whenever she comes to visit Jane, and it starts to affect the two teenagers’ relationship.
In the end, Lester gets shot and killed, and it takes a while to determine who the killer is. It ends up being neighbor Frank Fitts, but as Lester – who is also the narrator of the film – attests to in the end, it’s hard to be mad over the act because there is still so much beauty in the world.
Here is a list of the main cast and characters in American Beauty:
Kevin Spacey (Lester Burnham)
Lester Burnham is going through a midlife crisis and decides to change everything about his life. He quits his job and looks for something “with as little responsibility as possible,” eventually finding a job at a fast-food burger joint. He also buys a 1970 Pontiac Firebird, something he always wanted when he was younger.
He develops an infatuation with Angela, a friend of his daughter’s, and almost sleeps with her before she tells him that she’s a virgin. He also gives his neighbor Frank Fitts the wrong idea about his sexuality, and in a fit of humiliation and rage, Fitts ends up putting a gun to Lester’s head and pulls the trigger.
Annette Bening (Carolyn Burnham)
Carolyn Burnham is Lester’s materialistic wife and a successful realtor. When her husband’s midlife crisis hits, she becomes frustrated with him and eventually begins an affair with a married realtor named Buddy Kane. She gets caught when the two buy a burger at the restaurant where Lester is working.
Carolyn also learns to express herself a bit as well, even learning to shoot a gun and going to the firing range regularly to hone her skills. The Burnhams continue to grow apart but when Lester gets killed in the end, Carolyn is devastated, which is shown after the real killer of Lester is revealed.
Thora Birch (Jane Burnham)
Jane is Lester and Carolyn’s teenage daughter and a cheerleader at her school. She detests her parents and is very embarrassed when her dad develops an obvious infatuation with her friend Angela. Angela flirts with Lester when she visits Jane at the Burnham house, which Jane hates.
Jane starts a relationship with her neighbor’s son, Ricky, and the two develop a bond. In the end, he asks her to go to New York City with him and she agrees. They are both trying to escape unhappy families and believe this is a great solution. Before they get the opportunity to leave, Jane’s dad is killed.
Wes Bentley (Ricky Fitts)
Ricky Fitts is the teenage neighbor of the Burnhams. He has a part-time job as a catering assistant but actually sells high-quality pot on the side, which of course brings in a lot more money. He befriends Lester Burnham and the two start hanging out and smoking pot together.
Ricky also films everything around him and has hundreds of videotapes to prove it. He has an overbearing and abusive father who once sent him to military school and even to a psychological facility. He asks Jane to run away with him at the end of the movie.
Mena Survari (Angela Hayes)
Angela is a blond cheerleader who has a lot of admirers. She knows her friend Jane’s father has a crush on her and she flaunts herself when she is around him. This, plus the fact that she considers Ricky Fitts a loser, causes her relationship with Jane to suffer. Toward the end of the film, the girls have a fight and it contributes to Angela flaunting herself even more to Lester.
Angela also considers being “ordinary” a curse, and when Ricky calls her that at the end of the movie, she calls off her friendship with Jane and tells them they deserve one another. When she finds herself alone with Jane’s father and he starts to undress her, she admits she’s a virgin and the encounter ends.
Peter Gallagher (Buddy Kane)
Buddy Kane is a hugely successful realtor and married to a woman who eventually leaves him. While still married, he begins an affair with Carolyn Burnham and teaches her how to shoot a gun. He tells her that learning to shoot gives people a feeling of freedom.
Buddy spends a lot of time with Carolyn, even after Lester confronts them while he’s at work and they show up at his drive-through window. The encounter gives viewers a reason to think that it might’ve been either Buddy or Carolyn who shoots Lester in the end.
Allison Janney (Barbara Fitts)
Barbara Fitts is Frank Fitts’ wife and doesn’t have a lot of lines throughout the movie. Although it’s obvious she loves her son Ricky, the movie implies that she is unhappy being married to Frank. He is strict, by the book, and abusive toward Ricky, which Barbara is obviously unhappy with.
Barbara is upset when Ricky tells her that he and Jane are going to go to New York City together, but she is obviously happy that her son is escaping their crazy household. You can’t help but feel she is envious that Ricky will soon be getting out of their house. Although her role is small, it is significant and is very well-acted.
Chris Cooper (Col. Frank Fitts)
Col. Frank Fitts is everything you’d expect an ex-military person to be. He expects to be respected and to be treated a certain way, and his wife and son oblige. He is extremely homophobic and shows disgust toward his new neighbor and his partner, showing that disgust to his family after the two men show up at his house with a welcome gift.
At the end of the movie, he is comforted by Lester after a particular episode and ends up trying to kiss him. Lester tells him he is not gay like Fitts thought he was, and Fitts walks away from Lester humiliated. In the end, it is Frank Fitts that ends up being the murderer of Lester Burnham.
Scott Bakula / Sam Robards (Jim Olmeyer / Jim Berkley)
Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley are a romantic couple and show up with a “welcome to the neighborhood” basket when Frank Fitts moves in. After they leave his home, Fitts lets his family know how disgusted he is with the couple and their sexuality.
Although their roles are not large, the scene where they show up at Fitts’ house is significant because it shows the latter’s feelings toward homosexuality and contributes to the things that happen toward the end of the movie, especially the scene where Lester is shot.