In the late 40s, Frank and April Wheeler meet across a crowded room. They chat, they laugh, they dance... then it's 1955 and they have two kids and a home on the titular suburban road in upstate New York. So opens "Revolutionary Road", a startlingly overwrought misstep from director Sam Mendes. Two minutes into the film, the couple (played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, reuniting for the first time since a little movie called "Titanic") have already fallen in and out of love, as is evidenced by a vicious argument on the side of a country road. This row is the first of many, since the film is essentially a catalogue of their relationship's disintegration. We never see them click, we never see them fall in love (with the exception of a few perfunctory flashbacks). They meet, and then they simply hate each other. For two hours.
What passes for a plot is the Wheeler's desperate attempt to spice up their loveless lives by shedding their suburban chains and moving to Paris - by boat, no less (uh, does anyone remember where we saw this couple before?). Much is made of Frank's need to "be a man" rather than toiling at a job he hates. The theory is that April will work in France while Frank persues a life of leisure. Naturally, it never gets that far. As April vacillates between shrieking shrew and vicious ice queen, Frank hedges his bets with his boss, never quite committing to the move. Eventually, as you might expect, things go south (rather than east).
Adapted by Justin Haythe from the Richard Yates novel, "Road" is what's typically called a "two-hander", it rests on the shoulders of its two leads who share most of the screentime together. Yes, there are a few supporting characters - including Kathy Bates as a busybody realtor and Michael Shannon as a ridiculously expository psychiatric patient - but they don't amount to much. This movie is the Kate and Leo show. And to be sure, the two actors are as interesting to watch now as they were eleven years ago. Too bad they don't have more to do.
I'm one of Ms. Winslet's biggest fans. While she's always had the capacity to overact, it's typically tempered by good choices. In "Road" she acts with a capital "A" (it's possible she needs a director she's not married to in order to stay grounded). Regardless, April is such an insanely unsympathetic character, I'm not sure any actress could have saved the role. Mr. DiCaprio, on the other hand, gives one of his most mature, natural performances. He doesn't possess the girth of a working man who's been sitting behind a desk for seven years (seriously, when's this kid going to bulk up), but his performance is the one pleasant surprise in the otherwise oppressive film.
Mr. Mendes is a talented director, and the film looks great. His equally passionless "
Road to Perdition" was also beautifully shot while possessing little heart. In "Revolutionary Road", everything is so affected and, dare I say it, melodramatic that there is almost a complete lack of feeling. Soap operas have their place, sure, but even soaps have a point. I get it: the suburbs are a hollow cesspool haunted by soulless drones whose dreams died long ago. And? We've heard that before in far better films, like the Douglas Sirk riff "
Far From Heaven" and Mr. Mendes' own vastly-superior "
American Beauty". The poster for the latter film invited audiences to "Look Closer". Here, there's not much more to see. This "Road" leads nowhere.
