American Beauty, despite its satirical nature, is so overly blunt with its character development and saccharine at parts that it can make the ironic lens of the film unbelievable—but these are small problems in the face of what’s one of the funniest films of the decade. Its humor is still restless because its themes are still relevant to the 21st century, and it’s a lesson in the tragicomedy. Humor and genuine concern for the characters’ lives coexist in the most pivotal of scenes.