Todd McCarthy’s Variety review is admiring enough, with a few reservations. But the performances, especially Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and what should be the breakthrough of the year, Michael Shannon:
That said, “Revolutionary Road” is constantly engrossing, as it successfully engages the Wheelers’ yearning to rescue themselves from their decorous, socially acceptable oblivion, just as it clearly defines how the “trap” is stronger than they are. The rows, tender moments and downtime in between are fully inhabited and powerfully charged by DiCaprio and Winslet. For his part, DiCaprio often achieves the kind of double register the film as a whole less consistently captures, as he indicates Frank’s thought process in the split second before he decides what to say. At certain moments, the conjoined cerebral and emotional aspects of his characterization summon the spirit of Jack Nicholson‘s breakthrough performances around the time of “Five Easy Pieces.
Winslet’s perf is less surprising, perhaps, if only because she has shown tremendous range throughout her career. April is a difficult role in that her mood changes sometimes seem inexplicable, but the thesp makes them all seem genuine, which resonates with Frank’s occasional hints that she’s possibly in need of psychiatric help. Winslet’s starkly etched April is steely, strong and brittle, capable of great highs and lows as well as massive uncertainty.
Pic’s startling supporting turn comes from Michael Shannon, who’s mesmerizing as the clinically insane son of local realtor and busybody Helen Givings (Kathy Bates). He’s a loony who is able to tell the truth about the Wheelers that everyone else so politely avoids; when Shannon is onscreen, it’s impossible to watch anyone else. The limited roster of supporting players has been expertly cast, and the thesps deliver accordingly, notably Bates, Richard Easton as her conveniently hard-of-hearing husband and David Harbour and Kathryn Hahn as the Wheeler’s small-horizons neighbors.
Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt was less wowed, and in fact wrote (SPOILER ALERT):
“Revolutionary Road” is, essentially, a repeat for Mendes of “American Beauty,” right down to the formal camera compositions, repetitive musical chords and shocking death at the end. Once more, the suburbs are well-upholstered nightmares and its denizens clueless — other than one estranged male.
Clearly, this environment attracts the dramatic sensibilities of this theater-trained director. Everything is boldly indicated to the audience from arch acting styles to the wink-wink, nod-nod of its design. Indeed his actors play the subtext with such fury that the text virtually disappears. Subtlety is not one of Mendes’ strong suits.
The movie mostly finds its dramatic rhythms in the, yes, titanic quarrels between its married couple. These lack for true wit or appreciation of rhetoric. Yet they are as toxic, hateful and desperate as any ever committed to the screen between a husband and wife.
I’m really surprised that he would compare the deaths in American Beauty and Revolutionary Road when they are so completely different. Also, there is no comparable Kevin Spacey character, someone who is everyman, with whom most men can relate. The similarities are really more about Mendes’ style as a director, to which he is more than entitled.
