In an odd sort of way, I almost feel sorry for Sam Mendes. Sure, he has an Oscar, is well respected in Hollywood and the theater world, and he's married to Kate Winslet...but I feel sorry for him. Why? Because after his brilliant debut in American Beauty (1999), he's had a meteoric fall in quality. Not that he's directed anything atrocious (although 2005's Jarhead was pretty blah save for the cinematography), but everything Mendes has done after American Beauty just doesn't measure up. In fact, he seems to be heading downhill. 2002's Road to Perdition was excellent, but it didn't quite match American Beauty's dramatic impact. Jarhead was annoyingly average aside from the technical aspects. And then there's Revolutionary Road, where Mendes seems determined to tread similar ground, only without those aspects of American Beauty that made it so amazing. This time, the story seems to combine the crumbling marriage of Lester and Carolyn Burnham with the escape fantasy of their daughter Jane and boyfriend Ricky Fitts. Frank and April Wheeler (Di Caprio and Winslet) are a 1950s couple settled in the suburbs. Frank goes to work every day and faces monotony in the office, while April stays home with the kids and faces the monotony of life on Revolutionary Road itself. Then of course, comes the plan to escape to Paris. Frank will have time to figure out what he really wants to do in life while (GASP) his wife supports him. Then of course, like in American Beauty, there's the neighbors with a son who's spent time in a mental institution (Michael Shannon, who could be a worthy successor for Heath Ledger's version of the Joker) who sees through the BS and says what everyone else keeps hidden. And it could have all been so compelling, if it wasn't for Justin Haythe's screenplay hurting everyone's efforts. When Haythe isn't forcing DiCaprio and Winslet to shout dialogue that spells out the message of the movie ("Who made these RULES anyway!?"), he's hurting them in other ways. For instance, we almost never...NEVER see the Wheeler's two young children, and after a while, you might begin to think that the kids just ran away and no one cared. And for all of the explosive arguments between Frank and April, it's very rare that it ever feels electrifying; mostly it's just LOUD. And then there's the biggest issue: the comedy. For a movie that's been hyped up to be depressing enough to make you want to cut yourself, there's an awful lot of small moments of humor, which holds the movie back from becoming truly compelling until the last 20 minutes, by which time the damage has become irreparable. Artistic and technical aspects are solid, though any episode of Mad Men is probably superior, and Thomas Newman contributes another simple-yet-magnetic score, but it's all in vain against Haythe's script. As for the acting, Winslet and DiCaprio are very good, particularly as the film reaches its conclusion, but they're held back for so long that their performances suffer (again, this is not their fault). Then there's Michael Shannon, who gives a performance so off-the-wall bizarre that I still can't decide if I like it or hate it. But most bizarre of all is that after all the shouting, personal attacks, mind games, suffering, and tragedy, the movie ends on a mildly funny note. Perhaps a better title would have been "Tonally Inconsistent Road"...
Grade: B-/C+
Number of 2008 Films Seen: 56
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