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After seeing "Revolutionary Road," I am convinced more than ever awards are subjective. The film received four Golden Globe nominations, while "The Secret Life of Bees" was shut out.
Not that "Road" is bad; it’s beautifully done in many ways and the acting is excellent, but it’s missing something.
Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are reunited 11 years after they captured hearts worldwide as star-crossed lovers in "Titanic." Here they play April and Frank Wheeler, an attractive young couple living in suburban Connecticut in the mid-1950s. Frank is a salesman for an office machine company in Manhattan and hates it. When April convinces him to move to Paris, he jumps at the opportunity, but soon becomes sidetracked by an attractive promotion and his own self-doubts. His wife doesn’t take this well.
"Road" is based on the well-regarded 1961 novel by Richard Yates, who was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Although I have never read the book, I have to imagine it explains plot points much better than the movie. For instance, the couple is hellbent on going to Paris, but you never get the feeling they’re particularly arty or intellectual, fitting with the bohemian wanderlust of the times. When it looks like their dream may shatter, the audience doesn’t seem to care.
There are great moments in the film, just not enough. Director Sam Mendes, who started in theater, is most comfortable when the story veers into intense drama. Overall, the tone is inconsistent and the ending is just weird.
It is nice to see Winslet and DiCaprio reunited and that they picked challenging material. Their chemistry remains quite palpable, though in a different way.
For all its star-power and early kudos, "Revolutionary Road" left me wondering what it was all about.
Revolutionary Road
R
Three reels out of four
Now playing at Ritz East
Recommended Rental
Appaloosa
R
Available Tuesday
Set in the Wild West of the 1880s, in "Appaloosa" old friends Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) are hired to defend a town from murderous rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons), but their bond is tested by comely Allie French (Renée Zellweger).
Based on Robert Parker’s best-selling novel, the film marks Harris’ second outing as a director.
