Revolutionary Road was always going to be one of the most hyped movies of the year.
After all, it’s the first time Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio have been in the same film since going down together on the Titanic twelve years ago.
Then there’s the fact that the director is one Sam Mendes, Winslet’s other half.
So, can Leo and Kate rekindle their onscreen chemistry? Can Mendes coax a great turn out of his missus? Yes, as it turns out.
While Revolutionary Road is a bit too sterile to be truly engaging, the remarkable performances are worth the price of admission.
DiCaprio and Winslet play Frank and April Wheeler, a couple trying to break free from the social confines of 1950s America.
Despite believing there is more to life than living in a nice Connecticut neighbourhood, the Wheelers are just like everyone else around them.
Frank hates his job but has to bring home the bacon, while aspiring actress April is a desperate housewife.
The couple decide to act like free spirits and move to Paris, but when Frank receives a handsome pay rise, escaping their gilded cage becomes much harder.
Anyone expecting Kate and Leo’s reunion to be all lovey-dovey will be left shaken by this bleak and depressing drama that portrays the American Dream as a ‘ridiculous delusion’ that forces you to resign from life.
Visually Mendes gets things, right but a script that doesn’t really flesh out the characters means Revolutionary Road, while beautifully acted, is a rather soulless attack on suburbia. PIERRE DE VILLIERS