Revolutionary Road poster & wallpaper

Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathryn Hahn

Frank and April, a married couple in the 1950s, have always seen themselves as special, different, ready and willing to live their lives based on higher ideals. So, as soon as they move into their new...( read more  read more... ) house on Revolutionary Road, they proudly declare their independence from the suburban inertia that surrounds them and determine never to be trapped by the social confines of their era. Yet for all their charm, beauty and irreverence, the Wheelers find themselves becoming exactly what they didn't expect: a good man with a routine job whose nerve has gone missing; a less-than-happy homemaker starving for fulfillment and passion; an American family with lost dreams, like any other. Driven to change their fates, April hatches an audacious plan to start all over again, to leave the comforts of Connecticut behind for the great unknown of Paris. But when the plan is put in motion, each spouse is pushed to extremes--one to escape whatever the cost, the other to save all that they have, no matter the compromises.

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30,177 ratings

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192 critics

R, 1 hr. 59 min.

Directed by: Sam Mendes

Release Date: December 15, 2008

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DVD Release Date: June 2, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (9,189)

  • binky013
    November 3, 2009
    binky013
    Wow . . . If you know me, you know that Kate Winslet is on my all-time favorite actors list. For me to put a living actor on my all-time favorite list takes some great work. If you know me, you also know that Leonardo DiCaprio not only is not on my all-time favorite actor list,...( read more) but has about as much chance making that list as the proverbial snowball in H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks.

    So you can imagine my surprise when I finally bit the bullet to watch this and found myself pretty much blown away by DiCaprio's work.

    Now unlike my turning point with, say, Tom Hanks in Da Vinci or Brad Pitt in Devil's Own, I'm not going to be able to say that I might try to re-evaluate my position on DiCaprio's past work. I'm sure my evaluation of his past work is correct: He's not (been) much of an actor. I will say this, however. I'm willing to watch with an unjaundiced eye what DiCaprio does from here on in, to see if he's finally matured into a good actor.

    Kate Winslet does not disappoint, by the way. I believe she is easily the finest actress of her generation. Stunningly good, really. So good, yet again, that she really does deserve to be listed with the greatest actresses of all-time.

    But to reiterate, especially for those of you who know how I've talked about DeCaprio in the past, this is a must-see for his work as well.

    NB: Be in a good mood when you catch this one. I tell you true that this is a draining full-fledged tragedy with little to bring you up from the depths when the final credits roll.
  • DerekA101
    August 8, 2009
    DerekA101
    A bit of a slow, melodramatic tale of a married couple's so-called "boring" life in the suburbs in the 1950s. I'm really not a fan of these types of movies because I don't think life in the suburbs is as mundane as Hollywood portrays it... but that's just me.

    Leonardo DiCaprio

    ...( read more) and Kate Winslet were absolutely phenomenal here... in fact, their tremendous acting is the only thing that keeps this film a float. The first 3/4 of this film was fairly dull and unengaging, but the final act was worth the wait and even bumped my rating up a whole star.

    All in all, Revolutionary Road is not a film I'd watch again, but it's worth a view. I didn't think it deserved to be a Best Picture Oscar nominee because there were host of other films that got snubbed that were better, but it's not a total waste of time.

    I thought it was kind of amusing as well that the only sane person in this film happened to be the crazy, insane guy.
  • AgentLexi2132
    July 13, 2009
    AgentLexi2132
    ''Hopeless emptiness. Now you've said it. Plenty of people are onto the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness.''

    A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to r...( read more)aise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates.

    Leonardo DiCaprio: Frank Wheeler

    It's been a long ten years since Sam Mendes' debut picture American Beauty. That's a really long time for audiences and fans of Mendes. People forget a film's essence and directors reintegrate old idealologies into a new piece of film, to the shocking dispair of us film critics. Benjamin Button did that to the humble Forest Gump, and Mendes has done it with his latest project. I'm not bold enough to make the claim that he simply re-did American Beauty as Revolutionary Road but the two are very similar. That's OK since American Beauty won several awards in various countries. It's still a worth a ticket price, but people will forget about this film in five years as American Beauty resurfaces in their minds.

    The film is adapted from Richard Yates' extremely well-received novel, first published in 1961. It is an examination of American suburbia that blossomed in the '50s and the problems therein. Now, I think that such an observation would be especially meaningful when made in its own time but not as much now. Many other people, including Mendes himself, have already produced Revolutionary Road in both film and other media. This forces the movie to rely on something additional besides its tired premise. Revolutionary Road offers viewers a disturbingly lifelike representation of a failing marriage. Winslet and DiCaprio are so good that I found myself reveling in the chaos. After their characters marry and become parents, both actors are constantly uneasy and stiffened by uneasiness. Neither portrayal is subdued, but rather fiery and inflamed, bordering on hatred even. Even when they are not verbally abusing each other, both are under veils of artificial emotion. There are no feel-good elements to the picture. Revolutionary Road is as effective as any gruesome exploitative film in never allowing its audience a moment's respite. It's different from American Beauty in that specific way, the story is pessimistic while its parent is inspiring, yet in this way it is truer to life than it's predecessor ever was.

    The bulk of the film was centred around their joint decision to uproot their family (and the children whom we rarely see) and move to Paris, so that DiCaprio's Frank would be able to live out his dream, of finding out his true calling. This would mean selling all their assets, crossing the steamship the other way round (which I chuckled at, and wonder if we're really going to see that at all), and having his wife support him (because the Europeans pay secretaries exorbitant salaries) while he mucks around for inspiration to life. This would also mean bidding Sayonara to his dead end job, until Murphy so decides to throw a spanner in the works with Frank gaining much needed recognition.
    Kate Winslet's April seemed to be the all-sacrificing wife, until her frequent breakdowns seem to cast doubts on her sanity, having to fight like mad with her husband, only to put on a more cordial front every morning at breakfast. One can only guess that she's doing her best to keep things from breaking down, but there's only a limit to how many holes in a sinking ship you can deter. In fact, the film develops at a pace with which paint dries, and comes alive only when Frank and April trade verbal punches of tidal wave proportions, with hurting insults flying both directions with the threat of physical violence always one step behind, as if in shadow.

    ''I want to feel things. Really feel them.''

    This Revolutionary Road is about the hypocrisy that we are all semi-aware of, yet choose to play the social charade and get a mental kick out of laughing the unrealness of it all behind closed doors, behind other people's backs. The games we play with the intention to hurt will sometimes backfire on ourselves too, and it's almost always never a good thing to be doing something to hit back at the other person, one whom you know you love. But banging it head on also means that it's time to surrender, to submit, but preferably done so in a more civil manner compared to dropping the bombshell and hoping for an expected reaction.

    Perhaps in the madness of it all, it takes an ex-mental patient character John (played by Michael Shannon) to become the voice of reason in an insanely fake world that both Frank and April find themselves in. In being crazy, he's granted the excuse to cut through the nonsense and say things as he sees fit, and has some of the best lines in the movie but also being the most accurate in the reading of the characters' expressions. If you think both Frank and April have words that hurt, pay attention to the wise sayings of John.

    Based on a novel by Richard Yates, Sam Mandes managed to bring out the best in the chemistry between his two leading stars. Between them, age has not been kind to Winslet, while the additional lines on DiCaprio's face makes him all the more mature, though retaining his baby-faced looks that even made it to the insults their character trades.
    Just when everything starts to meander around the themes it set out to explore, and treading in dangerous ground in being too convoluted for its own good, the parting shot was quite verbose in summing everything up quite nicely, in that it pays to switch off at times, or most of the times if you will, in order to keep things as sane as possible without the opportunity of being misread that you're uncooperative, or unwilling to lend a listening ear. Very poignant, emotionally turbulent and chillingly close to reality.

    'Look at us. We're just like everyone else. We've bought into the same, ridiculous delusion.''
  • OnlyNDreams
    July 9, 2009
    OnlyNDreams
    Kate & Leo have such great chemistry on screen, I enjoyed seeing them in another movie together.
  • gor41
    July 2, 2009
    gor41
    Impeccably staged insight into 50's suburbia which looks sumptuous. I think the mad neighbour who speaks the truth was an unnecessary misstep and I would have liked more back story on how their relationship formed and developed.
  • theloneowl
    November 6, 2009
    theloneowl
    Triste e pesante, ma non assolutamente in maniera negativa.
    È uno di quei film che devono essere metabolizzati, che rimangono in testa per tanto tanto tempo.
  • lopcar1993
    November 3, 2009
    lopcar1993
    What does a cult 1961 Richard Yates novel about a 1950s marriage rotting in the burbs have to say to a new century? Plenty, and hold on, because the raw and riveting Revolutionary Road hits you where it hurts. To hear Kate Winslet, as April Wheeler, express her desire "to be wond...( read more)erful in the world" is to be reminded of subtle urges with no expiration date. Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, as her husband, Frank, could not be better in the roles of young marrieds who (shades of Mad Men) move from Manhattan to the suburbs, promising themselves it's all just temporary. April dreams of taking off for Paris, where she'll work while Frank pursues his artistic impulses. Add two kids, thwarted ambitions, adultery ? Frank with a secretary (a vivid Zoe Kazan) and April with a married neighbor (the excellent David Harbour) ? plus April's unwanted third pregnancy, and the whooshing sound you hear is a dream in free-fall. Directed with extraordinary skill by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), who warms the chill in the Yates-faithful script by Justin Haythe, the film is a tough road well worth traveling. Camera genius Roger Deakins lights the "hopeless emptiness" on view with a terrible beauty. All the actors amaze. Start the award buzz for Michael Shannon as John Givings, the institutionalized son of a gossipy realtor (the ever-superb Kathy Bates). Home on a visit, John spits the truth at Frank and April. Playing the role like a heat-seeking missile that targets hypocrisy, the volcanic Shannon scores a knockout. DiCaprio is in peak form, bringing layers of buried emotion to a defeated man. And the glorious Winslet defines what makes an actress great, blazing commitment to a character and the range to make every nuance felt. Winslet's last scene, as April prepares breakfast for a husband who can't see the torment behind her smile, is emotionally devastating. This movie takes a piece out of you.
  • ladymia
    October 29, 2009
    ladymia
    Close up on the interpersonal horror of a relationship full of misunderstandings and selfishness.
  • yona71
    October 28, 2009
    yona71
    An intense film, yet quite disturbing as well with it's unique edge. Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio star as a young married couple in the '50s whose lives are based on what they believe to be of the higher ideals, only to find themselves on emotional rollercoasters due to the...( read more) inadequacy of their stereotypical existence in Connecticut. Frank(DiCaprio) works at a job he hates because he feels that is the way, and never gives himself the chance to find out who he really is. April(Winslet) has a desire to start over again in Paris which was once fondly spoken of by Frank. But do the pieces fit into the puzzle of their dream of the "perfect" life they imagined themselves living?
    I was impressed with Kate Winslet's performance as the daydreaming housekeeper, and Leonardo DiCaprio's performance as the guy who just does what he thinks he has to do as a father and husband. However, each character does questionable things which helps define this union as unsavory indeed.
    The "Stepford Wives"-esque feel of the film is eerie even though it may not have even been planned, and I feel a film like this is scarier than the average horror film of these days. Show me a good thriller of the horror genre, and it's an enjoyable ride. But when it comes to harsh reality so often prevalent in the world, it scares the hell out of me.
    And ironically enough, Kathy Bates of "Misery" portrays a real estate agent who shows them a house on Revolutionary Road.
    "Ozzie and Harriot", I think not.
  • danieljparsons
    October 25, 2009
    danieljparsons
    "No one forgets the truth, Frank, they just get better at lying."

    Without a shadow of a doubt, this is one of the most powerfully written, directed and performed films I have ever seen. Justin Haythe has superbly adapted quite an interior novel and made it seem effortle

    ...( read more)ss, and this is easily Sam Mendes' most accomplished film yet. Revolutionary Road has long been the project Kate Winslet has most wanted to do and she wisely waited until she was of the right age and experience to make it, giving one of the most realistic performances committed to celluloid this century. She may have been excellent in The Reader but this is acting on another level and why the Academy failed to recognise it is a mystery to me. All other performances, even in the smallest role, are note perfect, so the film becomes not only about Frank and Alice but also permeates out to their friends and acquaintances too. A film meticulously detailing a crumbling marriage trapped in the claustrophobia of American Surburbia in the 1950s. It is often more disturbing than any horror film and acknowledges the truth that it is possible to immediately and irrevocably fall out of love - or realise that there never was love to begin with. That the artifice of what is accepted or expected can bleed into one's own soul, the realisation of that fakery tainting everything, forever.

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Critic Reviews

January 30, 2009
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

Winslet gives Revolutionary Road its depth and heft. That face still gazes at us, with its seraphic blend of beauty and horror, minutes, even hours, after we have left the theatre. full review

January 26, 2009
Brian Webster, Apollo Guide

This is a movie by and for the actors, especially for Kate Winslet, whose prodigious talents are well used throughout this bleak, troubling and powerful drama. full review

January 21, 2009
Mike McGranaghan, The Aisle Seat

Revolutionary Road is a very well-made film indeed, and if it stings a little, that is only a testament to how strong a work it is. full review

January 9, 2009
Kimberly Jones, Austin Chronicle

Revolutionary Road ranks right up there with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in its characterization of a coupling deeply scabrous and defective. full review

January 9, 2009
Michael Sragow, The Baltimore Sun

Revolutionary Road isn't just a failed literary adaptation. It's a failure of the worst kind: It doesn't even make you want to read Richard Yates' deservedly legendary book. full review

January 9, 2009
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

Viewers in the mood for rip-snorting marital combat should go ahead and partake, but they must prepare to leave the theatre in a state of profound depression. full review

January 5, 2009
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Winslet gives a fearless performance here. It's not her fault her husband has shrouded it in Taste. full review

January 5, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

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? full review

January 5, 2009
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Sam Mendes has worked in this territory before with his Oscar-winning American Beauty. Revolutionary Road is a better movie because it doesn't rely on such blatant caricatures. full review

January 5, 2009
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Revolutionary Road is easily the best-acted film of 2008, and one of the most corrosive. full review

View more Revolutionary Road reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • nine0384
    March 3, 2009
    nine0384
    I got excited about this movie because it really related to me. Well not completely but I want to quit my job and move too! I really thought it was actually going to happen but then it didnt and that sucked. The ending of the movie was pretty random and uncalled for, I think. Extra sad for no reason. I guess I just had hopes of a story of triumph in leaving your mundane life behind and going for your dreams but they slapped me in the face.
  • docfilms06
    January 21, 2009
    docfilms06
    There is an insightful and entertaining review of Revolutionary Road on YouTube by people who are veterans in the biz....check it out
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_XjrTKoqQ4
  • laurahunt110
    January 18, 2009
    laurahunt110
    DiCaprio is truly SENSATIONAL in this film, giving by far the best performance among the cast, and actually elevates the film from being forgettable, to an actual experience.
  • oninaras
    June 21, 2008
    oninaras
    CAN'T WAIT to see them again together..
  • sparksfang
    August 22, 2007
    sparksfang
    oo yea!! movie sounds AWSOME!!!!!!!!
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