Revolutionary Road was far from being revolutionary itself. By playing out the deterioration of a typical surburban couple, it showed us modern folk what we already knew: 1950s America wasn't all white picket fences and carhops on rollerskates. It may have been a simpler time, but it was still just as easy to screw over your significant other.
Besides seeing Kate and Leo together again, RR didn't do much for me. But they have such a beautiful chemistry, that I really wish they were a real couple on this side of the camera. The entire cast was phenomenal, but I don't care for two hours of pretty people glaring and yelling at each other. Nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt at Oscar glory.
The problem is I had no reason at all to care about their marriage. The movie opens with April and Frank meeting at a party. Then the movie skips ahead 7 or 8 years and they're screaming at each other on the side of the highway. Maybe if I'd seen some real tender moments between the two, actually gotten a sense that they'd once cared about each other, then the demise of their not-so-happy home would've affected me more. I can only guess at this point.
Overall, it was like watching two straight episodes of "Mad Men," if those two episodes were centered on nothing more than Don and Betty Draper screaming at each other. Thankfully, "Mad Men" is about much more than that.
Rating:
3 pieces of fan mail:
Amen. Two people barking at each other for 120 minutes.
Oh, but the capturing of a relationship falling apart and the angst of suburban living blah blah blah. I was happy to see it end.
Yeah, they captured the relationship falling apart, but without building said relationship up first, the Wheelers were nothing more than some random unhappy couple. Nothing special about that; I see it all the time
For the life of me I can't figure out why Kate Winslet didn't get an Oscar nomination for her acting in "Revolutionary Road." Whatever flaws the film has, her performance is not one of them. She is so raw in everything that she does; she takes such huge risks in her acting.
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