American Beauty is a guilty pleasure for me, though it has numerous flaws. This was back when the Michael O'Donoghue remembrance camp thought that Kevin Spacey would make a great Mr. Mike (which he would have). Still, I prefer Todd Solondz's Happiness, which is a far darker, much better assault on American suburbia.
Revolutionary Road, another Sam Mendes effort, seemed forced, though again, I enjoyed it. Problem is, it came out in the Mad Men era. Bad timing there.
Dennis