Hollywood’s idea of a horror movie isn’t necessarily Freddy, Jason or Michael knocking on your door with something sharp.
It’s moving to the suburbs.
Cue the “Psycho” music!
“Revolutionary Road” puts audiences back on familiar ground — the soul-sucking nature of living in a house the vast majority of the world’s residents would kill for.
Oh, the horror.
Still, “Road” promises so much more than its staid premise. The film, adapted from the revered book of the same name by Richard Yates, reunites “Titanic” lovebirds Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. And Sam Mendes of “American Beauty” fame is behind the camera.
So why is it such an artificial experience?
Frank and April Wheeler (DiCaprio and Winslet) seem like the model ’50s era couple. They live in a gorgeous Connecticut home and are the ambivalent parents of two sweet children. It’s hard to remember another film in which parents seem as disinterested in their offspring.
But they aren’t remotely happy with their lot. April is a failed actress with little direction in life. Frank works for the same numbing company his dad once toiled for, and he hates every minute of his 9-to-5 rut.
So April comes up with a plan to save their sanity – and their marriage. We’ll move to Paris, she says. After some consideration, he agrees.
Could their marriage rebound by such a move? And can the Wheelers make it to Paris before their union collapses?
Even if “Road” were a perfectly calibrated vehicle, it would be a chore to care a whit about the Wheelers. Mendes and co. can’t come up with a compelling back story to their romance, nor does he invest either character with enough shading to make their flaws remarkable.
And both DiCaprio and Winslet turn in their most affected work in ages. It all feels like a stage play slapped on the screen, perhaps a residue from Mendes’ theatrical roots. They rant and rave at each other, gesticulating madly as if a swarm of gnats had invaded the set.
In case audiences miss the venom directed at all involved, along comes John (Michael Shannon), the emotionally unstable son of a local busybody (Kathy Bates). He’s a loose-lipped loon who barges through two critical scenes to put the Wheelers in their place – and cluck his tongue at their lives along with the barbed script.
Movie critics en masse should be laughing these sequences off the screen, but since this is a Serious Oscar Contender you’ll find little condemnation.
“Revolutionary Road” is never dull, just a sad example of cynicism draped in good intentions gone awry.
(Photo: “Titanic” lovebirds Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet drown in poorly staged melodrama in the new Sam Mendes movie “Revolutionary Road.”)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
they don’t need a back story.
people don’t and can’t fight like that for no good reason. and it sure as heck doesn’t come after only a few dates. would you rather have a silent montage with some lovely music, showing them going on their oh so lovely first few dates? it’s not always necessary.
I’ll agree that the setting is cliche. they could have put these two in a modern day, downtown condo, and the results could have been every bit as striking. (maybe even more so.)
but the acting is what elevates this film above any and all of it’s (weak) parts. and it can’t just be written off as a sorry attempt so simply, as you’ve done.
it was a good film.
Thanks for your feedback, Papa. We’ll have to agree to disagree, though I think more movie critics are taking your side. I like everyone involved in the film … but for me it all registered as insincere at best (check out Michael Shannon in “Bug,” a bizarre film but an intriguing one … he does ‘unhinged’ quite well)
I always find it odd that Hollywood continues to attack the very same audience that its trying to sell a product to. This movie will be in every suburban multiplex, all while looking down its nose at the very people that have come to see it. My Dad came from abject poverty. His dream was to have a decent home in a good neighborhood. He made it and thanked God everyday. Maybe suburban living isn’t for everyone but maybe being a self absorbed egomaniac actor, actress or director isn’t either.
I agree, Grofe, but you can still make a compelling movie about suburban malaise. This just isn’t it … A more competent film would feature more realistic characters whose complacency makes sense – and lets audiences understand their plight.