Revolutionary Road

written by: Justin Haythe (novel by: Richard Yates)
directed by: Sam Mendes

It's 1940 something . We meet young April (Kate Winslet) and Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) at a party in the city. She is an aspiring actress. He is ambitious and wants to do something great with his life..whatever that may be. Fast forward to a few years down the road. The Wheeler's are leaving April's horrible stage play and get into a heated argument on the way back home to the suburbs. This surely can't be the same couple that we just saw at the party. Something has changed between them.

Frank gets up every morning. Catches a train to a job he can't stand and knows is useless. But he has to make money to support his wife and two kids and the life they have come to know in their neighborhood. April cooks and cleans and plays mom but she can't stand it.

She eventually gets the idea to pack up the family and move to Paris. Frank had been there before and loved it and it would give him the time he needed to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. He just turned 30. It's not too late. Or is it? Their neighbors and Frank's coworkers completely scoff at the idea of them pickin up and moving across the seas. Were they nuts or something? They soon get thrown for a loop when April discovers she is prengnant again and Frank gets offered a promotion. Is Paris still an option.

All I knew when I first saw this preview a hundred million months ago when I saw this preview is that I had to see it. I love Kate. I love Leo (however I didn't watch Titanic...go figure) and it just seemed so good. Then we get to River Oaks Theater Saturday morning. The line went down the sidewalk. Unheard of. Everyone was psyched. Not the same vibe when they got out. At all.

I'm not saying that this is not a good movie. In fact, it's the opposite. Awesome performances by Leo and Kate. Hell even Kathy Bates is in the movie. And there's this dude who plays Bate's husband who was recently committed to a psych ward, John (Michael Shannon) who is incredible. I have no idea why he wasn't nominated in the slew of nods this movie is getting.

Anyway, I didn't hear not one pleased person coming out of the theater. Yes it is a depressing movie. Yes it is incredible real. I wasn't alive in the 50's but I grew up in the burbs and I could see how it turns young, ambitious people into...suburbanites. "You work a job you hate to buy shit you don't need" - Tyler Durden. Nobody liked April's character. The girl behind me told her boyfriend she could just not be sympathetic for such a bitch. I could really understand where she was coming from most of the time, but one of her lines in the movie actually made a woman in the front of the theater gasp.

To me I immediately was reminded of the Best Picture winner of 1999. Don't know what I'm talking about? American Beauty. For some reason Lester Bernham's life wasn't as much of a downer as the tale of the Wheeler's was, but it wasn't far off either.

So I will definetly be looking for this book. Especially since I found out that it was written back in the day. And I do recommend this movie for the great performances, even though if you were in a bad mood before you'd wanna curl up on the couch and cry.