Movie Review: Revolutionary Road

Posted by Donnie in Entertainment and Pop Culture Movies.

Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio together again. 

 

Oscar award winning director Sam Mendes (American Beauty & Road to Perdition) brings to the screen the 1961 literary classic by Richard Yates about married life in 1950’s suburbia. Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet play Frank and April Wheeler, a young married couple living far from New York City where they met. After moving to the ‘burbs of Connecticut to raise their children they start to come unglued since all the things they talked about doing upon meeting are getting farther and farther away from actually happening.

I knew the premise of this going in and knew there would arguments, fights, accusations etc. but I figured there would be some build to all the high drama preceded by the romance and love. Boy was I shocked to witness the shit hit the fan less than 10 minutes into a two hour feature. Besides being a house wife April is an aspiring actress and a pretty bad one. Of course Frank is a bit of a dick or a man that believes in telling the truth but regardless he feels the need to tell the truth about April’s performance on the way home which leads to an argument on the side of the road and the beginning of a very depressing movie. The only moments of happiness we get from this married couple are quick flashbacks to when they first met and when they went house hunting which went for a combined 10 minutes…at the most. 

While Leo and Kate provide some high drama we are also provided with a little bit of comedy in the form of their neighbor/realtor Helen Giving (Kathy Bates) and her wacky family. Helen’s husband  Howard (Richard Easton) has basically been beaten down over the years by Helen’s dominance but at least he has a hearing aid that he can turn down and her son John (Michael Shannon) was just released from an insane asylum after being committed for “stress issues”. What John naturally expects when introduced to the Wheelers is another of the fake, perfect couples that his mother crows about but surprisingly gets a couple that tell is nothing like his mother and more like himself. Since John is “insane” he tends to speak his mind which leads to some hilarious moments but it kinda sticks out like a sore thumb. 

My wife and I tried predicting how all of this would end and under my tutelage she has gotten quite good at it but neither of us really expected what we got….. what I will say is don’t expect to leave the theater with cheery thoughts running through your head. Expect to leave wondering is this what happens when marriages go bad? Titanic this is not.

Entertainment and Pop Culture, Movies |