text:  American Beauty was widely considered the best film of 1999 by the American press . It received overwhelming praise , chiefly for Spacey , <unk> and Ball . Variety reported that " no other 1999 movie has benefited from such universal <unk> . " It was the best @-@ received title at the Toronto International Film Festival ( <unk> ) , where it won the People 's Choice award after a ballot of the festival 's audiences . <unk> 's director , Piers <unk> , said , " American Beauty was the <unk> of the festival , the film most talked @-@ about . " 
  