Felt like a well-made episode of Desperate Housewives without the comedy...

Rating: 6/10 (25 December 2008)

Revolutionary Road, helmed by American Beauty Oscar winning director Sam Mendes, could be the biggest disappointment of 2008.
Now, don't get me wrong... the movie was good. It just... fell flat. Though pumped with emotional contact between the characters, it ultimately felt emotionless for me. Beautifully shot by Roger Deakins, though. Another fine cinematographic job from the master of his field.
What I wanted to be so much just couldn't be. Of course, Kate Winslet was great in the role, but I don't think this is anywhere near her best work, and it would be a shame to see an Oscar go to this performance when 2008 was such a wonderful year for the leading ladies. A nomination? Well, of course... but the win will not be deserved.
Now to DiCaprio. Though I fully acknowledge that the man can act, and in some cases very well, he just seems to me to be processing the same role. He isn't very versatile as an actor at all, and this role just held no challenges for him. Any number of actors could have pulled more from the role. The performance, though shouty, was really two-dimensional for me.
And now to the best part of the movie: the supporting actors. Michael Shannon brings his A-game to a very small but pivotal role in the story. He provides the climax so wonderfully, yet had to play off of an obvious screenplay. All that his character did was trumpet the whole message of the movie, and for me, the meaning of any great work is ultimately subversive and not blatant. Obviously the scene was required to provide a goal point, but still... this is the fault of the screenplay, which is very faithful to the book, which is probably where the REAL problem lies. This book was just not a book that adapted well to the screen, I think.
Kathy Bates clocks in a lovely little performance as Michael Shannon's mother, wishing to excuse her son's every fanaticism with a mental illness. A shame really, because Jon was such an interesting character, if completely unnecessary.
So, like I said, this was a good movie. Just one that was unnecessary to make. A rehashing of a story already told (by the same director), with several well-acted scenes, a wonderful performance throughout from Kate, a sub-par script based on a sub-par book, all shown beautifully by Roger Deakins.
A 6 out of 10 (but just barely)