Tour-de-force

Rating: 10/10 (16 January 2009)

Move over George and Martha. Step aside Archie and Edith. Take a walk Oliver and Barbara. Here comes Frank and April. They are in the house. They have arrived and they mean business. Kate Winslet and Leonardo DeCaprio give tour-de-force performances as a couple in conflict. Separately each character is likable, indeed wonderful, someone you would want to have as a friend. But together? Oh boy! Hold on to your hat because you'll be going on a ride, with a lot a bumps along the way. The director has taken what would otherwise have been little more than another hokey Hollywood potboiler and has raised it to the level of a classic. This movie is devoid of the mucky sentimentality that reduce such stories to sappy melodramas and instead deals forthrightly with the trials and tribulations associated with unmet needs. For one wants freedom and other wants security and they struggle to bridge that gulf. Ms. Winslet and Mr. DeCaprio were wonderful in Titanic. In this movie their performances are better. They're older but still retain that youthfulness which make them so appealing as actors. Also kudos to Kathryn Hahn who is one of the great comic character actresses. There is no bad guy or good guy, just people struggling to get through life and not be emotional frauds.