Revolutionary Road (2008)

Rolling Stone
Ranked #6 in Rolling Stone's 'Movies Of The Year' -- "Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are brilliant..." 01/08/2008 p.116

Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "Directed with extraordinary skill by Sam Mendes....DiCaprio is in peak form...And the glorious Winslet defines what makes an actress great, blazing commitment to a character and the range to make every nuance felt." 01/08/2008 p.120

USA Today
3 stars out of 4 -- "[T]he performances are superb, and the film is beautifully shot. And the dialogue, much of it lifted directly from Yates' books, is contemplative and incisive." 12/26/2008

Los Angeles Times
"Only a stone, frankly, would not be captured by the honesty and intensity of Winslet's performance, by the breathtaking way she throws herself into this lacerating emotional maelstrom." 12/26/2008

Premiere
"The directing, acting, set design -- it's all top notch; Michael Shannon is especially good..." 12/24/2008

Box Office
4 stars out of 5 -- "[An] intelligent and emotionally dense adaptation....Winslet gives a brilliantly detailed performance of swallowed emotions that will almost certainly result in gold-plated kudos comes awards time." 11/21/2008

Entertainment Weekly
"Winslet has the tricky job of making us see the glimmer of wisdom in April's cockeyed plan, and she pulls it off....Winslet is so meticulous in her telegraphed despair that she intrigues us..." -- Grade: B 01/01/2009

Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "This fertile soil for choice moments of observation and nuance....The most moving then in the film is the on-top-form DiCaprio's devastating physical reaction at a particular moment." 02/01/2009

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "There's plenty to admire here. DiCaprio and Winslet channel much nuance into their home-based hell." 02/01/2009

Washington Post
"Sam Mendes's spiritually depleted film exerts an undeniable pull as its beautiful, doomed protagonists navigate the ennui of adult life." 01/02/2009

A.V. Club
"[B]eautifully shot, unimpeachably acted...[the] film spins a slow-motion tragedy out of everyday frustrations..." 06/03/2009

ReelViews 9 of 10
Since 1997, Titanic fans have been yearning for a re-teaming of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Revolutionary Road is the opportunity they have awaited, but the results may cause as much distress as joy. Directed by Winslet's husband, Sam Mendes, and faithfully adapted by Justin Haythe from the novel by Richard Yates, this is the dissection of an imploding marriage and a contemplation about life in surburbia. It's a sad, grim movie that asks pointed questions about the compromises we make and the lies we tell in an effort to maintain a sense of equilibrium. And is it more courageous to face up to one's responsibilities or to follow a dream, no matter how impossible it may seem?...Watching DiCaprio and Winslet, it's hard to remember that these were the star-crossed lovers in Titanic. Their on-screen relationship here is more real and brittle - not the kind of marriage some viewers would hope for from Rose and Jack. The actors use their chemistry (they are great friends) to forge an underlying sense of affection between Frank and April, but the fractures are deep and widening. These are believable, flawed people and, as in situations like this, fault can be generously apportioned. It's possible to understand both sides. Assigning blame is as difficult as determining the solution. Winslet's performance is more emotive than DiCaprio's, but that's because of the nature of her character...Revolutionary Road is dramatically potent material and, although it poses a number of philosophical questions, it works best as an unsentimental examination of a marriage in crisis. Because the actors are expert, Mendes understands the subject matter, and the source material is so meticulous, we are left emotionally impacted but without a sense of having been manipulated. Revolutionary Road is a fine motion picture, but it's not a good choice to lighten a burden or brighten a night. It rewards in the ways that only tragedies can. - James Berardinelli
 
Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
"Revolutionary Road" shows the American Dream awakened by a nightmare. It takes place in the 1950s, the decade not only of Elvis but of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. It shows a young couple who meet at a party, get married and create a suburban life with a nice house, a manicured lawn, "modern" furniture, two kids, a job in the city for him, housework for her, and martinis, cigarettes, boredom and desperation for both of them...The Wheelers, Frank and April, are blinded by love into believing life together will allow them to fulfill their fantasies. Their problem is, they have no fantasies. Instead, they have yearnings -- a hunger for something more than a weary slog into middle age...Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (Kate Winslet) can't see inviting futures for themselves. Frank joins the morning march of men in suits and hats out of Grand Central and into jobs where they are "executives" doing meaningless work -- in Frank's case, he's "in office machines." He might as well be one. April suggests he just quit, so they can move to Paris, she can support them as a translator at the American Embassy and he can figure out what he really wants to do...Frank and April are played by DiCaprio and Winslet as the sad ending to the romance in "Titanic," and all other romances that are founded on nothing more than ... romance. They are so good, they stop being actors and become the people I grew up around. Don't think they smoke too much in this movie. In the 1950s everybody smoked everywhere all the time. Life was a disease, and smoking held it temporarily in remission...The direction is by Sam Mendes, who dissected suburban desperation in "American Beauty," a film that after this one seems merciful. The screenplay by Justin Haythe is drawn from the famous 1961 novel by Richard Yates...This film is so good it is devastating. A lot of people believe their parents didn't understand them. What if they didn't understand themselves? - Roger Ebert