Leonardo DiCaprio (Gangs of New York, The Departed) and Kate Winslet (The Reader, Little Children) reunite for the first time since they smashed the box office record as Jack and Rose in 1997’s Titanic. Revolutionary Road is also a love story, but it’s about a couple falling out of love rather than falling in love. Both are superb in this movie. It is easy to identify with each of their characters. And while Winslet and especially DiCaprio are at the top of their game, they are overshadowed by two scene-stealing scenes involving Michael Shannon (Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, Take Shelter). Shannon plays the mentally unstable son of their real estate agent, friend Helen (Kathy Bates – Misery, Dolores Claiborne), and her husband. Michael has no filter between his brain and his mouth and thus tells anyone and everyone exactly what he is thinking at any given moment. This is not a good thing, as Michael’s outlook on life and people, in general, is as pessimistic as one can be. It creates moments of intensified drama resulting in unfiltered anger. Rightfully so, Shannon was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award (the award went to Heath Ledger for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight), even though he was on the screen for fewer than 15 minutes.

Based on Richard Yates’s novel of the same name, Sam Mendes’s (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) movie depicts DiCaprio and Winslet as Frank and April Wheeler, an outwardly happy couple living in Connecticut during the 1950s. They seemingly have everything. They are young and good-looking. They have two kids. Frank and April live in a beautiful house that their neighbors envy. He has a well-paying job while she is pursuing a career in acting. They are friends with everyone and seem to have the best life. Inwardly, however, they are both miserable. Frank hates everything about his job. April realizes her acting career is a lost cause after the film’s opening scene, a play at the town theater that not only turns out to be a complete flop but is so bad that everyone in the audience and on stage knows it. But as dissatisfied as they are with their jobs, they are even unhappier with each other. They loathe each other for different ways and reasons.

There are two flashback scenes in the movie. One is of Frank and April meeting for the first time (this is the film’s first scene more than it is a flashback), and the second is of the married being shown the house on Revolutionary Road for the first time). But the time-strapped Mendes took a chance by not showing the joy Frank and April once shared or the progression of the couple’s dissatisfaction with one another. Instead, he drops us right into their miserable lives and hopes we will be captivated by it. And we are.

Revolutionary Road doesn’t hold back trying to show Mendes’s vision of suburban life’s emptiness. Though they treat their two young children well, we never get the feeling that either parent loves the children the way they should love their children. The movie’s actual use of the son and daughter was quite interesting. They are rarely on screen and don’t seem to be the cause of their dissent. Frank deals with his lack of intimacy by having an affair with a younger woman at work. April deals with it by dreaming. She plans for the family to change their lives and move to Paris. While Frank laughs at the idea at first, she eventually wins him over by telling him she would have the opportunity to work while he tries to find a career that brings him passion.

The thought of living a life that allows him to escape his terrible job has Frank hopeful for the first time in a long time. April’s persuasive speech that includes the quote, “Don’t you know? You’re the most beautiful and wonderful thing in the world! You’re a man!” wins Frank over, and soon he’s telling his colleagues he is quitting. He drafts a message to his boss, who interprets the meaning differently than intended, and offers Frank a promotion in the company along with a speech about life. This, coupled with April’s unplanned pregnancy, soon crushes the Wheeler’s dream of moving to France. Or does it? April tells Frank she would much rather have an abortion and move away than continue living her mundane, melancholy life. Frank has a decision to make. Should he take the job and raise the child as expected or continue to believe in April’s idealistic/foolish dream of trying to carve out a piece of happiness?

Revolutionary Road doesn’t offer the dark humor that American Beauty provides. Including attempts at humor would not only damper but wreck the painfully tense mood created by the full-throttle shouting matches and the softer, more horrific despair. The only time we are less comfortable than when Frank and April are raging the most disparaging words at one another is the awkward silence and molasses-like tension between them when they are halfheartedly trying to reconcile. This is not the feel-good movie of the year. It is ominous and nerve-wracking at the same time. As the film approaches its climax, you know it won’t end well. Your thoughts turn from how it will end for Frank and April to how bad it will end for Frank and April.

Plot 10/10
Character Development 9/10
Character Chemistry 9.5/10
Acting 9.5/10
Screenplay 9/10
Directing  10/10
Cinematography 9/10
Sound 9/10
Hook and Reel 9/10
Universal Relevance 9/10 (some believe life in the 1950s is the best decade in our country’s history to raise a family. This movie proves that it wasn’t as great as many in our generation believe)
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