Review of Revolutionary Road (2008) by Bryan N — 04 Jan 2012

Little late but heres the review.

Pros: Sam Mendes' beautiful depiction of suburban life in turmoil is the true highlight. This film depicts the what lies beneath mentality behind the painted colonial homes and how many families struggle to stay together. It's subtle and never force always giving the actors and screenplay time to sink in, all the while the ending is left for you to ponder over. Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Shannon and the ever amazing Kathy Bates give outstanding Oscar worthy performances throughout. Thomas Newman's great piano based score takes elements of his previous scores from American Beauty and Finding Nemo and blend them well to give the film strong musical themes. The film itself is very hard to watch, and this further increases the overall beauty and impact the film will leave with you, and for that I think credit should go to screenwriter Justin Haythe who did a terrific job adapting Richard Yates' novel.

Cons: Sometimes movies leave the audience to fill in the blanks, and that's fine, films need to do that in order to deal with pacing and time but for Revolutionary Road this seemed to happen one too many times for me. There are some elements that seem to be taken straight out of Mendes' previous film American Beauty, but it's really easy to over look them, just thought I'd point that out though before you start making comparisons.