Revolutionary Road DVD: Review By Brian Gallagher

I really can't put a finger on why I didn't want to see Revolutionary Road during its theatrical run. I mean, it was Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and even Kathy Bates and Michael Shannon starring with the awesome Sam Mendes directing. Most likely, though, it's because, like Sam Mendes' first film, the Best Picture-winning American Beauty, this certainly couldn't have been an easy movie to sell and an even harder movie to market. Let's see: a seemingly happy couple decides to try and revamp their lives through drastic measures in the complacency of 1950s Connecticut. Yeah, that's about all I can really say about the plot without giving a terrible about away, but I will say that Sam Mendes's film is an elegant joy to watch.

The story revolves around the Wheelers, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (Kate Winslet), who seem to be a quaint and happy little couple like everyone else in their cushy Connecticut neighborhood. They're married, live in a quaint little house in a quaint little neighborhood with two adorable kids. Like all couples in the 50s, Frank was the working man, providing for his family by working at the same company his father worked at for 20 years, while April stayed at home and made sure that her husband had a clean home and a hot dinner to come home to, and occasionally entertaining a guest for a brief time, like her neighbor/realtor Helen Givings (Kathy Bates), who actually sold them the house on Revolutionary Road that they live in. April wants more, though, more out of her life and after a disastrous turn as an actress at a local community theater, which results in a fight on the side of the road (the first of many memorable exchanges between these two masters of their craft, DiCaprio and Winslet), they realize they both need something more. The couple concocts a semi-reasonable plan to move to Paris in a few months, with April working as a secretary while Frank can take the time he needs to find out what he truly wants to do in life, which, in turn, would provide their family the happiness they deserve. Of course, this is the 1950s, where it was normal to just be happy with your life and in turn, happy with your normal life, and their plan is met with hushed skepticism by their friends and Frank's co-workers and, as they near closer to their departure date, the Wheeler's seemingly-perfect relationship starts to crumble.

The film was based off the book of the same name by Richard Yates, which was published in 1961 and I believe was set in the 50s and, while the plight of the Wheeler's is rather universal and could've easily been played off as a contemporary story, the fact this story is told in the 50s makes it even more compelling. The conformist era of the 50s is displayed brilliantly in an early sequence in the film that goes through a whole day in the Wheeler's lives, cutting back from Frank's day at work and April's day at home. We see Frank eye up a new mistress and even taking her out for drinks and a hotel room later, while cutting back to April doing her mundane household chores. The whole sequence in and of itself could be a brilliant short film, but this sequence is really the table-setter for the whole era that the film takes place in, and it's truly a stroke of genius by screenwriter Justin Haythe, who surprisingly has only written one other film, the solid-but-not-extraordinary The Clearing. While I haven't read the book, Haythe truly crafts a remarkable script here, creating these amazing characters that ring so true with the time period, so much so that the film is almost like a time capsule back to this era, where no one wants to rock the boat.

While Haythe surrounds the Wheeler's with such wonderful characters, they are all portrayed equally wonderfully by this diverse supporting cast. David Harbour and Kathryn Hahn shine as Shep and Milly Campbell, the perfectly happy couple that live up the ridge from the Wheeler's, Dylan Baker is wonderful as Frank's sardonic (for that period) co-worker Jack Ordway, Kathy Bates is amazing as always as the nosy neighbor, Helen Givings, but perhaps the most intriguing character of all is performed to utmost perfection by Michael Shannon, who plays Helen's son John Givings, the only person who actually understands what the Wheeler's want to do... even though he "isn't well" in the head. Although Shannon isn't given an exorbitant amount of screen time, Shannon delivers an astonishing breakthrough performance here as John Givings, the "crazy" son of Helen who actually agrees with the Wheelers. While Shannon has surely performed well in the past with roles in films like High Crimes, 8 Mile, World Trade Center and many others, this incredible performance will surely give him the push he deserves.

Then there's Leo and Kate, America's Titanic sweethearts back together again on the silver screen after more than a decade. It's almost indescribable how good these two are together. They have some of the most incredible timing and chemistry together, from knowing each other for so long and, of course, it doesn't hurt that they're two astounding actors, both truly at the top of their game, and to see them both play off each other for an entire movie is just a sheer pleasure to watch.

I currently own every Sam Mendes film to date (OK, it's not insanely impressive since he has only did three films - American Beauty, Road to Perdition and the underrated Jarhead, which I loved) and that trend surely won't change with this film. Mendes is just such a vastly talented filmmaker and, like most vastly talented filmmakers, they aren't very user-friendly, so to speak. Like the Coen Brothers and many others, Mendes' films aren't spelled out for you and there are so many layers to his work that it is such a joy just to peel them back and watch what unfolds. There are such deep layers of subtext in his films and, it's not that they are incredibly confusing or hard to follow (OK, maybe a bit hard to follow at times) like, per se, a David Lynch film, but he presents these stories in such a way that if you challenge yourself to look deeper and look past what's just being presented on the screen, you'll be rewarded with so much more.

Revolutionary Road is truly another gem for Sam Mendes, with a universal story about a couple wanting more out of life, seamlessly intertwined with a complex "character study," if you will, of an entire decade of American culture. This is truly an astounding film that deserves to be seen... even if you were as skeptical about it as I was at first.

Sadly we don't get a ton of extras here. We get started with Lives of Quiet Desperation: The Making of Revolutionary Road. It's your average featurette, where we hear from all the main players - DiCaprio, Winslet, director Sam Mendes and other cast and crew members. It was interesting to hear about this all came about, especially since the film's pre-production time was so little because it took awhile to get Leo on board. We also get some good stuff about finding the actual house they shot in - since it was all on location with not a single shot done in a studio - and some of the other locations like the Knox building and other areas of New York City. It's quite a nice and thorough 29-minute featurette that hits on some very interesting aspects of the movie and gives you a nice look behind-the-scenes as well.

The only other thing we get besides a commentary track are some Deleted Scenes, but we only get five of them. We get one where April is mowing the lawn herself, a social taboo for the time, another where Frank tells a story about his birthday, one pretty lame one about a father and son talking on the train, one where April has a flashback to when they first bought their house and the last one is towards the end of the film that I probably shouldn't talk about. These five scenes are just under 10 minutes and they're all right, for deleted scenes I guess, but all were worthy of deletion.

The film is presented in the widescreen format, enhanced for 16x9 widescreen televisions

The sound is handled through the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound format.

Some nice work here. The front features a title card and a romantic shot of DiCaprio and Winslet with a critic quote below, all set against a white background. The back has a nice modular design with a few more critic quotes, more shots of DiCaprio and Winslet, a nice synopsis, small special features section and the billing block and tech specs.

Revolutionary Road is a compelling look at the "ideal" suburban life in the 1950s, peeling back this veneer of complacency to offer a new look into this era, with astounding performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and Michael Shannon.