Oscars Rewind: How ‘American Beauty’ Lost Its Luster

Oscars Rewind: How ‘American Beauty’ Lost Its Luster

It was March 2000, and everything was coming up roses for “American Beauty.” There were the box office receipts (more than $350 million worldwide, not adjusted for inflation, against a budget of roughly $15 million, according to the data site Box Office Mojo). The rave reviews (“a hell of a picture,” Kenneth Turan wrote in The Los Angeles Times). The three Golden Globes. “It was bizarre, because I expected it to be a little art house movie,” Ala…