X
- 2008
- R
- DreamWorks Distribution
- 1 h 59 m
- 2008
- R
- DreamWorks Distribution
- 1 h 59 m
Summary Adapted from the landmark novel by Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road is an incisive portrait of an American marriage seen through the eyes of Frank and April Wheeler. Yates’ story of 1950’s America poses a question that has been reverberating through modern relationships ever since: can two people break away from the ordinary without bre...
Directed By: Sam Mendes
Written By: Justin Haythe, Richard Yates
- 2008
- R
- DreamWorks Distribution
- 1 h 59 m
- 2008
- R
- DreamWorks Distribution
- 1 h 59 m
Revolutionary Road
69
7.6
Where to Watch
Summary Adapted from the landmark novel by Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road is an incisive portrait of an American marriage seen through the eyes of Frank and April Wheeler. Yates’ story of 1950’s America poses a question that has been reverberating through modern relationships ever since: can two people break away from the ordinary without bre...
Directed By: Sam Mendes
Written By: Justin Haythe, Richard Yates
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 38 Critic Reviews
69
74% Positive
28 Reviews
28 Reviews
24% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 38 Critic Reviews
69
74% Positive
28 Reviews
28 Reviews
24% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
The best American film of 2008.
DiCaprio is in peak form, bringing layers of buried emotion to a defeated man. And the glorious Winslet defines what makes an actress great, blazing commitment to a character and the range to make every nuance felt.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 185 User Ratings
7.6
80% Positive
148 Ratings
148 Ratings
15% Mixed
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
5% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 185 User Ratings
7.6
80% Positive
148 Ratings
148 Ratings
15% Mixed
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
5% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
Revisiting titles that I watched back in my adolescence helps me get a better grasp of the full extent to which I have altered and matured in terms of insight and intellect. I found Revolutionary Road quite well-acted and masterfully directed back in 2009, but this time around, as a thirty-year-old woman with adequate experience when it comes to relationships, disillusionment, and identity crisis, I totally got to empathize with each character, their flaws, their **** dreams, and the overall toll it takes on any individual to be put in such a position.
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Intense and uncomfortable, this film dissects the end of a marriage like no other.
I heard so much about this film that I felt compelled to see it, especially considering that it is directed by Sam Mendes (one of the great directors of today) and starred by Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio, two extraordinary actors. Everything seemed to be an excellent film… and what I came to find is more than enough to satisfy my expectations.
The film is a family drama set in a 1950s suburb, one of the most interesting decades to address these issues given the rapid changes in the lives and habits of American families, and the obsession with appearances and the perfect life, the which is particularly palpable in suburban families, always worried about what their neighbors will think. The script for this film introduces us to a family that couldn't function worse: after a quick and fleeting infatuation, the couple Frank and April Wheeler couldn't be more unhappy, enduring a conflicted marriage, jobs they hate and a suburban life that, inwardly, they despise. Eager to change her life, April asks them to move to Paris, France, but several events delay the trip as their marriage falls apart.
This is a hard and difficult film, which tackles two main themes in a caustic and uncomfortable way: the first and most important is marriage, especially those accommodating and loveless marriages, which go on supporting each other year after year. The film highlights the differences, sometimes irreconcilable, between the characters so much that it is anti-romantic. The second major theme to be addressed is the modus vivendi of suburban American families in the Fifties, with their hypocrisies and obsession with appearances and the perfect life. Sam Mendes, by the way, did a similar critical exercise a few years earlier, in “American Beauty”.
Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio are the featured actors in this film. They've been great friends since they starred in "Titanic" and their friendship was the basis of a fruitful collaboration, in which both always ask for more and better each other, aware of their abilities and the excellent chemistry they manage to maintain, making the scenes of love in poetry and giving the most tense scenes a palpable electricity. Winslet was particularly committed, convinced that the film was a good idea. She was responsible for the participation of her friend DiCaprio, to whom she gave a copy of the script. The result is one of the most intense, complex and powerful works of her acting career. She also wanted to draw attention to the dialogue, particularly when the two characters fight. There are truly powerful phrases, with a cruel harshness that is hard to hear but exudes credibility. There are also good performances by actors like Michael Shannon or David Harbour, but always in the third plan.
The film is not very long, but it develops quickly, and in the first few minutes you realize what lies ahead: Sam Mendes shows us a tough marital fight full of sarcasm early on, setting the pace to the film and developing as well as the characters, as well as the social background through which they move. The sets and costumes are excellent and reproduce very well the suburban environment of the time, with the standardization of life and tastes, men dressed almost identically, women with long skirts and the one always worried about her home and her husband. The mentality of the time and the social context are part of the film as if they were another character: if we consider that that marriage failed because of the cowardice of not defying the conventions with an exciting trip to a country where they could live life without so many rules, the villain ends up being the hypocritical and restrictive social environment where they lived.
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As a whole, Sam Mendes' film of Revolutionary Road comes close but falls short of capturing Richard Yates' terrific novel.
It's not quite up to the caliber of Richard Yates' novel, which is deeply nuanced and rich in subtext. But the performances are superb, and the film is beautifully shot.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet do exactly what’s asked of them as Frank and April Wheeler, who may be ironically named: They spin emotional wheels constantly but get nowhere.
An impeccably shot, studiously staged, passionately acted bore, one of those curious fizzles in which everyone seems to do everything right, but the film simply refuses to take off.
Revolutionary Road isn't just a failed literary adaptation. It's a failure of the worst kind: It doesn't even make you want to read Richard Yates' deservedly legendary book.
It's almost hard to believe that "Revolutionary Road" is 10 years old at the time of writing this review. This is definitely a very realistic film that hit very close to home for me in particular. Anyone who deals with a suburban life or an unhappy relationship will have a lot of empathy for our two leads, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, who honestly give amazing performances. I think Revolutionary Road will get even better with age, if that is at all possible.
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Revolutionary Road relies far too heavily on it's source material and in doing so encourages comparison which speedily brings the audience to the unsurprising realisation that the novel is superior. Despite this, Mendes fails to include the subtle and organic elements responsible for that superiority.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 3 Nominations
Italian Online Movie Awards (IOMA)
• 2 Wins & 8 Nominations
