10 Movies That Gave Away The Spoiler Immediately

Few films are so bare-faced in revealing the dramatic elements of their plot as Sam Mendes' masterful late-'90s drama American Beauty.

Kevin Spacey gives one of his career-defining performances as Burnham family patriarch Lester, whose lust for life has left him after years of the 9-5 grind, and who seeks an emotional redemption via the simple pleasures of zero-responsibility minimum wage work and weed.

The film opens on a suburban neighbourhood, with a voiceover from Lester describing his life in the past tense. He tells us, 'I'm 42 years old, and in less than a year I'll be dead.' And that's it; that is American Beauty's ending spelled out in the first 30 seconds of the movie. He goes on to describe the existential predicament of his character and embed the film's key themes and ideas in straight, common sense language.

And yet, whether because we don't believe him, don't want to believe him, or just want to join him for the ride, we find ourselves compelled to keep watching. It's a simple way of approaching what winds up being a deep and moving narrative, and it has thus far stood the test of time, which is more than can be said for Spacey himself...