I've just been to see the Oscar winning 'American beauty' and I've been positively surprised by it (I didn't want to see it, but my girlfriend nearly begged me). The only thing that left me a little bit confused was the title: is it about the myth of the beauty of the American Way or is it about the gorgeous, eye-popping blonde schoolgirl (sorry, I don't remember the name)?

I think that the latter is the correct answer, the main reason being that if she didn't exist, the whole thing wouldn't have happened.

Here is the point:
If Lester didn't meet her, he wouldn't have started working out, feeling young and smoking weed. This makes us realize that if he didn't start smoking weed, he wouldn't have called the guy-next-door to buy some dope, the guy's father wouldn't have misunderstood what was going on, wouldn't have tried to kiss him, wouldn't have killed him. Quite a linear thinking, uh?

Another minor thing that made me think is that they will probably never lock the guy-next-door's father up , because the police will find the gun Lester's wife took home (and maybe lock her up). Or will find the video in which the daughter asks the guy-next-door to kill her father for her (if you remember, the guy-next-door stopped filming soon after an extreme close-up of the girl's eye, before she said she was not serious).

Well. Will anyone help me find out what the title is about or do I have to live the rest of my life with this doubt? As always, the best reply gets the prize.