Mendes mending more marriage hearts but with a slick revolutionary style!

Rating: 8/10 (17 January 2009)

Director Sam Mendes' suburbia melancholy tic is still ticking with his latest subversive (synonym of revolutionary) film "Revolutionary Road". The film is not really a revolutionist one as it is a sinister one; sinister in the sense of marriage peccadillo. Mendes brings us the usual no-no's of marriage that have been mores in the matrimony world in the last few decades: adultery, deceit, lies, dissatisfaction, and escapism. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as Frank & April Wheeler, a young married couple with two kids living in a Connecticut suburb in the mid 1950's. Frank Wheeler unenthusiastically just goes with the motion in his mundane office job living paycheck by paycheck. April Wheeler is a stay-at-home mom and part-time amateur actress who longs for more than the life she is living. Therefore, a Wheeler Revolution must occur! So they decide to move to Paris. They inform their archetypal suburban married neighbors (and best friends) Shep and Milly Campbell of their Tour de France plans; The Campbells think it is all talk soup, even with their stunned expressions. That scene is probably the elite one the film. The Wheeler's revolutionary Paris road plans come to a dead end when Frank gets an unexpected promotion and the zenith of the Wheeler Marriage Civil War begins. "Revolutionary Road" should not be part of an itinerary for a Marriage Retreat because most of the film shows the Wheelers emotionally bickering about various contrived sentiments and psychological conflicts. DiCaprio and Winslet's titanic performances are Oscar worthy; but Winslet wins out between the two. Nevertheless, my favorite performance of the film was Michael Shannon's scene-stealing work as John Gibins, the mentally troubled son of the Wheeler's real estate confidante Helen Gibins. Shannon portrays John Gibins as a real straight shooter who fires emotional verbal blows to the Wheelers which get them off track in saving their marriage. I hope the Academy does shadow my Shannon sentiment by giving him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. Kathy Bates is "gibin" us some more fine acting in the twilight of her career with her solid work as Helen Gibins. Justin Haythe's screenplay based on Richard Yates "Revolutionary Road" novel gives the best-seller literary work a respectful proper credence. You gotta have Haythe in your promising screenwriter list. Roger Deakins' astounding cinematography should garner him yet another Oscar nomination; copy that Roger. But let's divert back to Sam the Man! Mendes, Mr. Kate Winslet himself, admirably continues to direct stories on marriage tribulations that cause eventual destruction on many psychological effects on a couple and those close around. He did it proficiently with "American Beauty" and does an encore with it in "Revolutionary Road"; even though I thought Beauty was superior to Road. When you first cinematically drive through "Revolutionary Road" it seems like just a mediocre movie ride; but before you could say "mental revolution" it does linger in your mind for a few days and that is a prominent sign of a powerful film. Follow your movie G.P.S. and take a ride through "Revolutionary Road". **** Good