8. "American Beauty" (1999):Sam Mendes' Academy award-winning drama marked a definite
turning point for Kevin Spacey, who won his second Oscar with this role. This
movie announced to the world that, yes indeed, Kevin Spacey can play a character
other than a serial killer,
... morecriminal, nasty employer or corrupt cop. He can be
your disgruntled, midlife crisis suffering dad -- albeit your dad telling his
story (a la "Sunset Boulevard") after he's been murdered by the next-door
neighbor. As Lester Burnham, a man who trades in suffocating suburbia for one
last stab at adolescence and an is-that-all-there-is search for meaning, Spacey
is superb (even if the movie's heavy handed and overrated). Walking the fine
line between heroic soul searcher and sexually restless creep, Spacey manages to
be both wonderfully enigmatic and open -- revealing so many thoughts we've had
about life ourselves but didn't have the gumption (or insanity) to throw such
serious caution to the wind. (New Line/courtesy Everett Collection)Close
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