Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Revolutionary Road - Movie Review

Revolutionary Road (R) 119 minutes C+
The Anatomy of a (bad) Marriage

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour, and Kathy Bates

The film Revolutionary Road is adapted from the Richard Yates novel (which I hear is a relentless and landmark read). The big screen version stars two of the biggest and brightest talents that Hollywood has to offer. But even their star power and the guidance of Sam Mendes (director of the classic American Beauty) wasn't enough to save this film from being a little exasperating.

I liked the film's edgy angst seething under the surface of an All-American 1950's marriage. There are some interesting things being said and real emotions being conveyed. But the film feels a little trite at times and lacked characters that I could really sink my teeth into.

The performances by DiCaprio and Winslet are good, and even though Oscar nominee Michael Shannon was the film's ultimate scene stealer... I'm not so convinced he deserved the Oscar nomination over other worthy performances from 2008 (see- James Franco, Milk & Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky to name a few). Revolutionary Road isn't bad, but it's not among the upper echelon of films from 2008.

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