Revolutionary Road

The big scenes are all there &mdash the purple-faced fights, the dinner party that threatens to unravel, the adultery sex &mdash but the connective tissue is missing. Sam Mendes is too much in love with his actors, too insistent on their (admittedly great) performance moments; meanwhile he is remiss in his duties as director. He neglects to support Kate and Leo by fleshing out the suburban hell they supposedly inhabit. The stars are so often framed tightly, to enhance their sense of claustrophobia, that we never get a clear idea of why they are feeling trapped in the first place; we aren't shown just what exactly is so boring and intolerable about the suburban commuter+housewife lifestyle. The screenplay also does too little to establish the freewheeling days of their youth for which they yearn, so we can't share their sense of loss. I think Mendes is failing to own up to a secret: These characters were mediocre people to begin with, and they blame suburbia because they're terrified to admit it. That's the untold story here. Starstruck Mendes chickened out on the opportunity to make a better movie by making Mr. and Mrs. My-Heart-Will-Go-On less likeable.

A more complete movie on the subject, also starring Winslet as a displaced mother alienated from her own maternity, is Little Children (2006). Director Todd Field correctly allows suburbia to breath, giving its quiet menace space to dwell.