Revolutionary Road

[marghorn]

I saw this last night. I thought the acting was great and the movie was well done, but I really hated it.

Only go see this movie if you want to listen to fighting for the better part of two hours and walk out of the theater feeling terrible.

Also, I loved American Beauty (same director), but I feel like the topic of how stifling, boring and hopeless upper middle class married-with-children life in the suburbs is has run its course. Really, with all of the horrible things that happen in this world today and throughout history, I find myself unable to pity characters whose largest problems are the monotony of every day life, nosy neighbors and their inability to find happiness despite their blessings.

 

[Rip76]

"but I feel like the topic of how stifling, boring and hopeless upper middle class married-with-children life in the suburbs is has run its course."

I love "period pieces," especially about the 50's.

But I was afraid this is all the movie would be about.
It's a shame...

"I'll never get to follow my dreams."

Spare me.

 

[texas_ex2000]

I know a lot of people don't like to know the ending before they go see a movie. The entertainment value would be tarnished. I think that's fine for a lot of movies. But were you going to Revolutionary Road to be entertained?

Movies like Revolutionary Road are art. Before going to an art museum, I'm assuming most people have a very firm idea of the kind stuff in the exhibit and what it's about. Same way with literature (which is also art)...While I didn't know the exact storyline, I knew exactly what Richard Yates' book was about and how depressing the message was before I read it.

As opposed to pop art/entertainment, art (whether visual, film, music, or literature) serves as a way to experience and examine aspects of the human condition not possible through the limitations of our individual lives. So if Revolutionary Road, depressed you or made you think it did exactly it's job. You can also appreciate an artist's technique/style. In this case the screenplay, cinematography, and acting.

The message of suburban wasteland is tired and old for today's audience though. When Yates wrote the book in the early 60's, it was groundbreaking (although not a commercial success), not so much today. Even American Beauty was overrated when it came out.

 

[Perham1]

In reply to:

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[Horn89]

Saw it last night. They should have advertised it as, "For those who thought 'American Beauty' was too optimistic."

I thought it had no emotional arc at all. Like the current trend of overcompressing the dynamic range of an album: If you try to make every moment as loud as it can possibly be, then nothing on the album is perceived as loud (it just sounds ******). If a couple starts screaming, "I hate you!" and the wife sneers at her husband, "You're not even a man!" before the opening credits have even rolled... then why do I want to see the two of them going at it over and over again for 125 more minutes?

DiCaprio, Winslett, and Michael Shannon are all A++ actors, but this was a C- script.

 

[RomaVicta]

I'm having trouble working up much enthusiasm about this movie, and this thread is killing whatever I had. The supposedly stifled life of the American suburbs is a tired theme. Maybe....maybe!... I'll rent this thing down the line.

Thanks for the warnings.

 

[Lamp]

I've only seen the previews but the movie does seem to lack subtlety if the preview is extrapolated throughout the movie. Why don't they just sell the house, move into Manhattan, and send their kids to a decent private school? I'm sure there's some reason for their refusal to return to the city raised in the movie, but I remember plenty of families raising their children in Manhattan when I lived there. I hate movies where characters refuse to do the obvious thing.