Parents Guide for
American Beauty (1999) More at IMDbPro »

One of the movie's subjects is a man's infatuation with his daughter's friend. He has erotic fantasies about her, but she is always at least partly covered (often by rose petals).

There is one adulterous sex scene which does not include nudity as the covers are pulled up, but the woman's legs are up in the air. Thrusting is accompanied by shouted "dirty talk."

A man is shown masturbating twice--first in the shower through frosted glass, second under the covers as he lies beside his wife.

A man watches his son and another man. It looks as if one if performing oral sex on the other, but they are not doing anything.

Bared breasts are shown three times (by two different characters and on a plastic surgery website). On one of these situations, a teenage girl is showing herself to a voyeur. On another a man is undressing a teenage girl.

Two men are shown nude from behind. One is shown while undressing (with a flash of his sex when he takes off his pants). The other is naked in his girlfriend's bedroom.

A teenager is pummeled in the face by his father in two scenes. In one of these, he is left with a bloody face.

A woman slaps herself several times in frustration. On another occasion, she slaps her daughter.

In one sequence a man is shot in the head. There is the sound of the gun and a spray of blood on the wall. Then his blood-soaked head is shown lying a a large pool of blood.

The F-word is used twenty time. The S-word is used eight times. Once clear and aggressive use of Cunt. Sexual acts are described in vulgar vulgar terms. Religious exclamations are used. Several different slurs for gay men are used on three occasions.

Wine is a regular part of dinner. There is a party with drinking, sometimes to excess. A man is shown drinking beer on several occasions. On one such occasion, he offers a sip of beer to a teenage girl which she accepts.

A teenager is a drug dealer who smokes marijuana with his girlfriend and her father. Teenage girls are shown smoking pot in car. A man smokes a joint while driving.

A gun shot and blood spatter might make some people jump.