Revolutionary Road (2008)

Summary: Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (Kate Winslet) Wheeler are an unhappy suburban couple in 1955 who decide that a move to Paris is just the thing they need.

By the time this movie opened here, I had more or less lowered my expectations for it. I went into it not entirely sure what I was looking for or what it would be. I knew DiCaprio and Winslet would be great (they are). I knew that Michael Shannon, as the institutionalized son of their neighbours, would do something amazing (he does but more on that in a minute).

There is some interesting work about perception and self-delusion going on in Justin Haythe's adaptation of Richard Yates' seminal novel. We hear a lot of talk about how "special" the Wheelers are, both from outsiders and from themselves, but we never see any of this specialness in action. Instead it becomes clear that there is vast gulf between everything the characters say and the reality in which they live. They fear that this special quality will burn out if they continue on the way they are; their capacity for self-reflection already has. In comes Shannon, burning with such fervent intensity that even playing a well worn trope (crazy person tells the truth no one dares speak) he invigorates his brief scenes with an electricity lacking from the rest of the film.

That's possibly the most interesting thing about it. Even though the acting is top notch, the movie wasn't the sum of its parts. It's not enough anymore to say that people in suburbia put on a veneer of perfection and are dying inside (in this movie, it's "hopeless emptiness"). We've seen that before. We've seen it for two superb seasons on Mad Men, and director Sam Mendes told us the same thing ten years ago with American Beauty and with far more creativity and pizazz.

You have to bring something more to the table now, and this movie didn't do that. B