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Revolutionary Road (2008)
Director: Sam Mendes
Movie review
From Time Out New York
Kate and Leo are finally back together again—and yes, the ship is sinking. Revolutionary Road, from Richard Yates’s impressively modern 1961 novel, is about a marriage taking water. And for a moment, it looks like both passengers are going to have the romantic fortitude to go below decks and start bailing. Failed actor April (Winslet) hates the suburban Connecticut life she shares with her corporate copywriter husband, Frank (DiCaprio)—also in a rut of his own, made of easy jokes at the office, clogged ashtrays and listless cheating with an available secretary. (The movie keeps Yates’s 1950s setting, but rarely functions as period nostalgia, to its credit.) April suggests a radical move, to Paris and a rekindled shared purpose. He accepts, but life gets in the way.
We’ve seen Winslet pinned behind these window panes before, trembling. Here, though, her material is meatier, more about aging and the death of dreams, and she is spellbinding, particularly as she closes down. DiCaprio launches himself into terrific Nicholsonian rages with Winslet; they both seem secure as performers and it’s tempting to think of this as the Titanic generation’s graduation. The movie is occasionally prestigey (it’s time to put composer Thomas Newman out to pasture), but no film featuring Bug’s ferocious Michael Shannon, as a neighbor’s mentally disturbed son who has weird insights, could be confused for mere Oscar fare.
Author: Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York Issue 690/691: December 18–31, 2008
User reviews of this film
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- Jock said...
- Posted on Mar 23 2009 10:30 Wow! I never imagined there to be so many shallow movie goers. Why go to a movie about relationhips if you're not prepared to try to feel any emotion? "Independence Day" anyone? Ka-bloom!!!
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- Mia said...
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Posted on Mar 13 2009 15:36
WOW how much people taste differs! In my eyes this was an amazing movie, speaking about death of dreams, aging, frivolity of everyday life. Completely terrifying and earth shaking in it slow (yes, slow, that I agree) but determined flow.
I was left with so many basic questions it triggered in my heart and mind, making me wonder about right and wrong ways to live and everything in between. Acting were great, with bloodied HUMANS as characters.
The one of the best movies last year, if not the best (in spite the Oscars:). - Report as inappropriate
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- sheffield sue said...
- Posted on Feb 18 2009 03:02 Completely dire. Reminded me of an American version of League of Gentlemen , excpt no humour. The script was cronic and cliched, the acting no better, and the plot: predictable to say the least. The best bit was ironically at the end with the fella n his hearing aid! Now I DID rate The Reader - far superior. Don't waste your money on this one.Watch paint dry - more fulfilling
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- Paolocee said...
- Posted on Feb 10 2009 16:43 Darryl, spot on. The slow-thinkers were never gonna get this film.
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- darryl said...
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Posted on Feb 02 2009 15:51
This is the best 2 hours I ever spent being brutally pummeled to a bloody pulp. How anyone can relate this to a "church service" I don't know. There's more sin in this movie than in the average satanic mass. There ain't no morality, there ain't no forgiveness and there ain't no puppies and unicorns.
I've always been fascinated by the enthusiastic masochism of film audiences; and I count myself as an a fan of any self-flagellation epic. Well, this one beats them all. Every married person I have spoken to about this film has testified to its absolutely crystalline authenticity. And while one can question the need to scrutinize the frightening, dark corners of the marital sepulcher; it can't hurt us to read the inscription on the tomb. Every once in awhile we need to converse about the darker side of life and this movie is a real conversation starter!
But it isn't all sticks and stones, there is some kick-*ass, world class acting going on here. And it's consistent throughout the cast; right down to the secondary support. Kathy Bates is overlooked here in an alternately restrained/unrestrained supporting role. Frank's office mates are excellent foils; and Kathryn Hahn is marvelous-while her character is woefully underdeveloped- she nevertheless provides desperately needed comic relief in an otherwise grueling film experience.
I'm a big fan of moral ambiguity; and this film serves it up by the bowlful. No answers in any way shape or form are proffered. Is Frank really unhappy with his life, or is he just a little bored? Does he hate his job; or is he unhappy with his progress? April presents her gettaway plan as a gift to Frank; a fulfillment of his dreams- but is she just using it as an excuse to escape her own suburban hell? The questions come fast and furious- but the answers are purposely withheld; we are not even clearly given the basics of any good story- who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist? The roles are exchanged at a frantic pace in this film. Resolution is left to the audience; as it should in all provocative film.
All in all, for those with a strong stomach; this is great, brutal fun! - Report as inappropriate
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- Shannon said...
- Posted on Jan 25 2009 19:42 Moustache couldn't have said it any bettr.
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- NIKKI BELFAST said...
- Posted on Jan 23 2009 07:50 Thanks Brooke for spoiling the ending!!
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- BoredAsHell said...
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Posted on Jan 19 2009 14:22
Much like the 1950's this movie is just as boring and uninteresting. It's extremely annoying to watch expecting something to happen, and then nothing happens.
I must admit the acting was good, however, that does not compensate for the sheer lack of happening in this movie.
Critics can rave all they want about it, bottom line is, for the average Joe movie goer, this will be a waste of money. - Report as inappropriate
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- Brooke said...
- Posted on Jan 13 2009 01:46 This movie was incredibly slow and horrifically depressing. I would not recommend it to anyone. When our private screening of this film concluded we assumed it could not get any worse and it didn't but it also did not get better. The Reader was equally long and difficult to sit through; I too was looking for the Exit signs on both. Both ended in Kate essentially killing herself. Depressing and dreadfully long.
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- moustache said...
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Posted on Dec 27 2008 15:42
Genuinely wanted to enjoy this movie, still reeling a little from the slow burn of Winslet's *Little Children.* But Revolutionary Road is ultimately a boring talkfest, punctuated by unpleasant silences. I mean "dinner with your significant other's uncaccepting conservative family." I mean "where is the nearest exit?" Almost nothing happens in this movie.
Winslet is awesome, as usual, and is the only thing this movie has going for it. She delivered the best she could against the plodding plot and empty characters. The storyline is erratic at best, with none of the characters or plotlines endearing at all, and the "sex" scenes solicited laughter from the audience in my theater.
DiCaprio's "terrific Nicholsonian rages?" This hyperbole borders on the kind of statement used to impress a date or an editor. I joined a few fellow moviegoers outside the theater doing a grimaced shaky-fist scene, mocking DiCaprio's phone-it-in.
Note to screenplay writers: insert crazy people every other scene, if you have to, just don't let you move get boring. Again to reference Nicholson, crazy people at least can be entertaining.
After Milla Jovovich's *Joan of Arc,* the forgotten Madonna island movie thing with Guy Ritchie, and now this disappointing turn by Winslet, I am swearing off actress-wife/director-husband projects forever (Helena Banham-Carter is the exception that defines the rule).
Finally, Thomas Newman's score, especially in the final scenes, served as a welcome relief to the incessant unaccompanied chatter of the majority of this motion picture. War-like, the dialogue in this picture was rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat, uncomfortable silence -- repeat. A musical accompaniment can be a wonderful tool to offer insight into a character's thoughts, and to link scenes thematically (see *The Hours* (see this instead!) or even "Star Wars" for that matter). All of these talky scenes had so much silence, that I could hear the guy crunching his nachos 50 feet away. A third of this movie is a church service.
One star, and this is as much of a review of this review as the movie. - Report as inappropriate
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- Josh said...
- Posted on Dec 22 2008 08:25 Yeesh, a regrettable mistake. Thanks for pointing it out; I've fixed it above. Of course, I stand by the point (sorry), but that error was unfortunate. Meanwhile, MovieGuy, I was compensated for every *other* word in the review, and this was an honest mistake. Sorry. If every journo got docked for such gaffes, there's be no writers left.
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- newmanfanforever said...
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Posted on Dec 20 2008 18:19
Well Joshua Ropkort, I feel that EVERY credible critic should be able to appreciate the exquisite work of Thomas Newman on films such as "American Beauty," "The Shawshank Redemption," and "Road to Perdition." Though, I suppose it would be a lot harder to reference his accomplished career if you don't even know his name.
Journalism 101 - Check you facts.....especially when criticizing someone's livelihood. - Report as inappropriate
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- MovieGuy said...
- Posted on Dec 19 2008 12:15 I'm sorry, but was this individual actually financially compensated for composing this review? Composer "Thomas Newton"? Even a cursory glance at the film's imdb page, or a fleeting familiarity with contemporary cinema in general, would reveal the composer's name to be Thomas Newman.
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Cast & crew
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates, Kathryn Hahn, Zoe Kazan, Dylan Baker, David Harbour, Richard Easton, Max Casella full cast
Rated: R
Duration: 119 mins
US Release: Dec 26 2008
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