Revolutionary Road

Umm...

Revolutionary Road was an absolutely miserable movie, but that's actually a good thing because it really is supposed to be.

I've always been a fan of Sam Mendes; American Beauty remains in my top five favorite movies, I enjoyed Road to Perdition, and I loved Jarhead. I kind of feel like he phoned it in on this one. It's a 50's period piece about the two most unhappy people ever, and it relied heavily on it's two lead actors, not necessarily it's director. The set design, costumes, hair and make-up were all accurate for the time period, but those were other peoples' jobs, Mendes only had to sign off on them. With Kate Winslet's and Leonardo DiCaprio's talent, I doubt he had to direct them much.

The performances were powerful. These two are locked in an unwanted relationship and they fight... a lot. They fight from the opening scene until the film's tragic end with the exception of a short period of forced happiness. They worked well together in a complete turnaround from their last movie together. In fact, they could have used the tag line "What if Jack didn't die?" on the poster for Revolutionary Road and made it a, kind of, sequel to Titanic. The 50's may have been a little late for that, but it is the natural progression of their relationship if he had survived the sinking.

So, should you see it?

There is a chance for some acting nominations out of this one. The eerie penultimate scene had me entranced, thanks entirely to Kate and Leo. If you like to see all of the nominated performances before the Oscars, you might want to check this one out. It really is horrible to watch though, so I can't bring myself to recommend Revolutionary Road.