Neal Vitale Reviews: Revolutionary Road
December 21, 2008
2.5 stars out of 5
The stars of Titanic - Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio - are reunited in this film by Winslet's husband, Sam Mendes, but to little return. Mendes has had a short but potent directorial career, creating the Oscar-winning American Beauty along with Road To Perdition and Jarhead. Revolutionary Road (based on the 1961 novel by Richard Yates) revisits some of the territory as American Beauty, portraying the ups and downs of young newlyweds (Winslet and DiCaprio) as they start their life together in suburbia. On a technical level, there is much that is appealing about the film - the recreation of mid-50s Connecticut is vivid, Thomas Newman's score is - as always - haunting and evocative, and the production design is exciting in its immediacy. There are strong acting performances throughout. But, unlike American Beauty, which beguiled with a multi-layered and provocative storyline, Revolutionary Road never connects and engages the viewer. The couple's hopes and aspirations, disillusionment and disappointment, are all well-portrayed, but there is little insight into why the characters do what they do. The film suggests interesting questions, but leaves them frustratingly unilluminated and unresolved.