Sam Mendes is a theater wunderkind. The man responsible for the phenomenally successful revival of "Cabaret" and who brought a taut tension to David Hare’s weak adaptation of "La Ronde" known as "The Blue Room", makes his feature film directorial debut with this amazing look at familial dysfunction and personal dissatisfaction.

Working from a riveting, razor-sharp script written by Alan Ball, Mendes has extracted a handful of sparkling performances from his talented cast and infused his film with a jaunty sense of hyper-reality so that everything that happens in it immediately takes on a sense of relevance rooted in the everyday normalcy of suburban life in America. From Kevin Spacey’s cheeky, relaxed performance as Lester, the monumentally frustrated husband and father, to Annette Bening’s tightly wound caricature of the modern wife and mother as unhappy despot, every single actor steps up to the mound for Mendes’ breathtaking vision and hit a series of home runs that elevate this dramedy from being merely good to being great.

The story of Lester, the underdog employee who’s just seething with resentment over his job and his overbearing wife and who’s alienated from a daughter he loves, is a darkly funny one. On the brink of being fired, Lester’s chance encounter with Ricky (Wes Bentley), the son of his new neighbors (Chris Cooper and Allison Janney), and his rediscovery of the joys of mind-altering substances and the sense of joie de vivre they impart on him, starts his odyssey to a new lease of life. After confronting his harried real-estate agent spouse, Carolyn (Bening), with his sexual and emotional dissatisfaction, he begins to fantasize about his daughter Jane’s (Thora Birch) ultra blonde Lolita-in-training best friend (Mena Suvari) while his family spins out of control. Jane is being stalked - albeit sweetly, benignly - by the drug-dealing Ricky, whose idea of courtship is to videotape her every moment and move her with his ruminations on the beauty of life, while his own family - led by a Nazi-sympathizing father and somnambulistic mother - threaten his own opportunity to live. Carolyn embarks on an affair of convenience with a fellow real-estate agent (Peter Gallagher) and learns to take out her frustrations with the help of a .45. All of which means that by the time the movie is over, "American Beauty" - a film whose tag line invites audiences to "look closer" - will have shattered every notion of the American family and exposed it in all it’s bizarre complexity. Neat trick for a British director who’s never before helmed a film.

Indeed, Mendes’ mastery over the medium is extraordinary. Eschewing showy techniques like sweeping crane shots or flashy editing, Mendes keeps his camera work static and simple as it keenly observes the work of a group of startlingly talented actors on the top of their game. Spacey, much lauded for years now, turns in his best performance to date in a role that is a departure from the dark characters he’s been saddled with in recent years. Lester is a silly, funny man who’s just about to realize his own capabilities, and Spacey brings to life his quest for joy in a way that makes him a sympathetic and likable guy, neatly sweeping the somewhat irresponsible and dislikable elements behind a veil of sweetly imploring looks and furtive glances. Bening, on the other hand, gives us a frenetic and bravely revealing look at a woman coming undone professionally and personally and not being able to cope with it all. Her Carolyn is to be as much reviled as she is to be pitied, and it is a testament to Bening’s skill that the character walks a very fine line between broad caricature and true pathos and comes off as a three-dimensional human being. Suvari makes her flirtatious character sharply tart and sympathetic, Birch brings a real sense of anger and uncertainty to her characterization of an embarrassed and rebellious teenager and Bentley gives a somewhat stilted (but appropriately so) performance as the contradictory voyeur and drug dealer who is as capable of great tenderness as he is of cruelty. Chris Cooper manages to do his best with a hateful character that is written in broad strokes while Allison Janney gives a stunning performance in a role vastly different from the ones she’s been doing recently.

Most of all, Mendes is the brightest star of this film. Heralding his arrival as a major film talent to watch with this moving, elegantly realized portrait of the modern American family, his film comes to life by emphasizing story over style, acting over editing, reality over witty contrivances and an uncompromising commitment to truth. The greatest joy in watching "American Beauty" is the realization that it is a truthful and accurate portrayal of families we all know but do not dare acknowledge exist. Mendes’ triumph in peeling back the layers and telling it like it is makes this a vastly enjoyable, entertaining and thoughtful film worthy of repeated viewing.

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