Oscar favourite American Beauty chalked up another prestigious US award within hours of its Golden Globes glory.

Debut British director Sam Mendes's film about a troubled suburban family was named top movie of 1999 by the Broadcast Film Critics' Association.

The critically-acclaimed movie, which stars Annette Bening and Kevin Spacey, picked up the honour less than 24 hours after winning a Golden Globes hat-trick for best picture, director and screenplay.

Accepting the prize at the Beverly Hills Hotel, American Beauty's producer Dan Jinks said: "We are going to be in our 80s, still thanking Alan (Ball) for writing the screenplay, and be in our next lifetimes thanking Sam (Mendes).

"Also, thank you DreamWorks for allowing us to make the movie we wanted to make."

The Broadcast Film Critics' Association, described as America's largest group of movie critics, was handing out its fifth annual awards.

Directors' honour

Meanwhile, 34-year-old Sam Mendes, who made his name in British theatre, was one of the five people nominated as best director of 1999 by the Directors' Guild of America on Monday night.

Announced by Steven Spielberg, the other four contenders are Michael Mann (The Insider), Frank Darabont (The Green Mile), Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich) and M Night Shyamalan for The Sixth Sense.

Spielberg, who holds the DGA record for most nominations (nine) and victories (three) was impressed with this year's nominees.



"This is a really good crop of nominees. It's a mix of independent films, mainstream films and independent films with mainstream studios.



"It's a good healthy mix and a sign of our times."

The DGA award will be handed out on 11 March - two weeks before the Oscars.

Since the DGA first began the award in 1949, all but four winners have gone on to win the best director Oscar.

DreamWorks celebrated the success of American Beauty by announcing that the film will be re-released on 18 February at around 750 US cinemas.

Produced on a $15m (�9.3m) budget, the film has so far grossed more than $73m (�45.6m).