Kate Winslet "spellbinding" in "Revolutionary Road"
Revolutionary Road
2.5 stars
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon
By Mina Hochberg
amNewYork Movie Critic
The last time we saw Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio together on-screen, they were perched on the mast of a ship, arms spanned in tandem, faces glowing before the horizon and all the carefree possibilities it promised. A decade later, in “Revolutionary Road,” Kate and Leo play a couple perched on the edge of marital despair, their dukes up, veins popping, faces glowering in the darkness of suburban lockdown.
Yes, it’s another cautionary tale about the mental health dangers of suburban living, a theme that director Sam Mendes already nailed once in “American Beauty.” Set in the 1950s, the film casts Winslet and DiCaprio in the roles of April and Frank Wheeler, a pair of good-looking New Yorkers who crossed paths at a party and fell in love enough to give picket-fence life a go.
Mendes wastes no time in bypassing the honeymoon phase and fast-forwarding to the breaking point, a few years after the Wheelers have emigrated to the burbs. You’re barely 10 minutes into the movie before April and Frank are spewing vitriol in a nasty roadside fight, one of many malicious showdowns that will make your heart cower for the next two hours.
The suburban dream is sucking the life out of them, April argues (their washed-out wardrobe, comprised largely of beiges, whites and light blues, supports her thesis). Frank sees her point and really wants to agree, but gee whiz, it sure is nice to earn lots of money, even if you do have to give up a dream or two. Besides, dreams are for idealists, right? This point of contention turns into a tumor of contention, and before you know it April and Frank can’t say enough horrible things to each other.
Winslet’s performance is spellbinding, as always — Mendes, her husband in real life, must have freaked out at least a little whenever Winslet stared down her on-screen husband with those dagger eyes. So massive is her presence, she pretty much walks around in her own gravitational force. DiCaprio is sucked up by this force for a while, but eventually comes into his own.
It’s almost all convincing, but something is askew. Maybe suburban malcontent has been done too many times. Maybe there’s one too many screaming matches. Maybe the tragic turns are too melodramatic — the dialogue and theatrics seem better suited for the stage than for the screen.
After a year of many disappointments, I was hoping “Revolutionary Road” would swoop in at the 11th hour and end 2008 on a high note. About halfway through the movie, though, as riveted as I was by this sad, terrifying train wreck of a relationship, I found myself asking, “Is this it?”
- “Revolutionary Road” is adapted from the 1961 novel by Richard Yates.
- This is the first time Kate Winslet has worked with Sam Mendes, her real-life husband.
