'American Beauty': No Joy in the Gilded Suburbs

By STEVE VINEBERG

Hovering at the doorway of adulthood in 1967's The Graduate, a befuddled Dustin Hoffman cringed at the idea of finding a niche in the plastics industry. His response echoed the fear and reluctance of an entire generation. "Plastics!" was the cry of a conformist bourgeoisie; it represented everything that the young audience for Mike Nichols's...