Grim put-down of 50s Suburbia

Rating: 4/10 (3 August 2009)

Instead of blaming Hollywood for their self-congratulatory tales of suburban angst, why not blame a gullible public? For it's the public that laps up these specious and false tales. Why was 'The Graduate' such a success? Because it gave the average person the right to feel that 'I'm better than you'. It's easy to sneer at a Mrs. Robinson, an adult woman who manipulates the emotions of Dustin Hoffman's 'innocent' college student, Benjamin. She's willing to not only ruin his life but also that of her daughters. Her narcissism knows no bounds. In a nutshell, she's a character who's easy to hate. Hollywood has the formula down pat: give us an innocent rebel who 'doesn't fit in' and have him or her pitted against the 'monster'—the hissing mustachioed villain of 19th century melodrama has evolved into the 'conformist' post-war suburbanite.
In Revolutionary Road there is nary a laugh to be heard throughout the entire 118 minutes of the film. No one seems to like themselves at all. At the film's beginning, the suburbanites' community theater production is a complete failure. And the worst performance in the play is given by our protagonist, Kate Winslett's April Wheeler. Heaven forbid people can have fun performing in a community theater production or even laugh at themselves if the production is a little off. No, the point is made from the outset that our community of post-war suburbanites is one of 'hopelessness' and 'emptiness'. This is the profound 'epiphany' that the makers of Revolutionary Road want us to experience and they are going to reveal these 'profound insights' to us. But the truth is, there is no such thing as suburban 'angst'—back then and now the vast majority of people have egos—in short, they like themselves!
Those who have written negative things about Revolutionary Road seem to agree that there is little character development when it comes to April Wheeler. When Helen Givings (Kathy Bates) tells April that she always felt she was someone 'special', the camera comes in close and we see the blank expression on her face. April is not to be blamed for her depression—society has made her into what she is. It's a trite idea that people are not responsible for their own lives but that's what Revolutionary Road serves up here. April is a Bohemian, a free spirit whose main goal is to move to Paris. For half the movie, her plan of liberation is about the only thing we find out about her. Certainly we find out nothing about her personality vis-à-vis her children—they are barely seen in this film and can be best thought of as a set of props in this overblown passion play.
Additional 'props' can be found in the characters of the Wheelers' neighbors, Shep and Millie Campbell. When April and Frank tell them of their plans to move to Paris, they later castigate them in the comfort of their own bedroom as "immature". The film's scenarists wish us to identify the Campbells as being arrogant and part of the overall suburban 'emptiness'. Shep loses further points when he beds April just before her final breakdown.
One wonders why Frank is so easily convinced by April to chuck his house and job and run off to Paris with her and the kids. After all, he screams at her for her illusions of becoming a great actress in the opening scene. But somehow she appeals to his earlier idealistic desires to be free and independent before the kids came along. In the blink of an eye, the empty and uncaring suburbanite who has no compunctions about bedding the new pretty office worker suddenly is transformed into a caring, self-actualized mensch who will go along with his wife's bold plan to go where no other suburban couple has gone before.
Don't despair, Frank returns to his vile ways quite soon enough. With a job promotion hanging over his head and the news that April is pregnant, he decides to 'sell out'. Aha, we've finally found out who the antagonist is in this film! Fortunately there is one bright note in Revolutionary Road and that is Michael Shannon's electroshock victim, John Givings. John is basically an ally of April since they both don't fit into society and are labeled as deviant (note that at one point, Frank recommends that April see a shrink!). Before Frank 'sells out', he and April have a nice 'heart-to-heart' talk in the woods with John who echoes the film's theme: people in suburbia might 'get' emptiness but April and (pre-sell-out) Frank 'feel' hopelessness. The non-conformist blesses the free-spirit couple for their 'bravery'. But once Frank takes the new job and decides not to go to Paris, he is the recipient of John's full wrath. A real person would have parried John's blows with perhaps a sense of humor, but since Frank is merely a stand-in for all the ills of suburbia (and hence American society), he comes off as arrogant, defensive and with a severe anger management problem.
The only truly enjoyable moment in Revolutionary Road is when John turns on April for a millisecond. After berating Frank, he whispers in HER ear and tells her in effect that maybe she's no great shakes either! The suggestion that maybe April is not an angel is short-lived. Before you know it, April has done herself in by means of a self-induced abortion. Our beloved bohemian is now enshrined as sacrificial lamb.
Ironically, Revolutionary Road is well-acted and directed. What's more the art design of the film, with its attention to period detail, is a work to behold. The score, while repetitious, is also haunting. But somehow the histrionics of the principal characters do not impress since people are not like that in real life. Stories about people living 'lives of quiet desperation' is not only a myth but 'old hat'. The 'Road' is more empty than the mythic society it creates and attempts to tear down.