Wick's Review

Summary - Very Good 3.5

A smug couple fights spectacularly over their narcissistic disappointments, with their immature worldview presented as the final word on family-centered suburban existence. Melodramatic, occasionally quite funny, flawlessly performed, supremely well made, Rev. Road is worth seeing if family trauma isn’t a sore spot.

Its indictment of suburban conformity falls flat however, displaying the sophistication and intellectual depth of a dorm room bull session. The story at least has the honesty to paint the damned couple as insufficiently talented for their aspirations, a bit of self-knowledge that eludes them as they plot to escape themselves. That impossible journey creates a modern tragedy that seemed daring and prescient in the early 1960s.

Acting - Great 4.0

Leo and Kate famously reunite in this movie, a couple of dreamers as in Titanic, though this time their relationship lives long enough to fail the test of time. These are two great moviestars.

• He’s matured into a credible middle age with his boyish charm intact.
• She stands as one of the finest film actresses working today, though her performance here takes a back seat to her virtuoso turn in The Reader.

The redoubtable Kathy Bates makes a distinctive turn as a suburban real estate agent with a legitimately tragic family situation. Michael Shannon jumps off the screen as her vitriolic son, a source of heartbreak for everyone he gets to know.

Other notable cast members include the reliably unctuous Dylan Baker, David Harbour and Kathryn Hahn as shallow neighbors, and Jay O. Sanders as a carnivorous executive.

Oh, and not to forget a Max Cassella sighting. Always good to see Doogie Howser’s best buddy still working

Film - Very Good 3.5

While the novel was no doubt groundbreaking in its day, this movie offers little that isn’t nowadays depicted in more interesting fashion. Two high quality TV shows come to mind: The family environs of the man in the gray flannel suit is better illuminated in Mad Men, while the tussle of marriage is better plumbed in Friday Night Lights.

Watching the movie, these people struck me as unfunny Seinfeld characters: self-centered, superficially successful, often ugly in their behavior. I’ve since learned that Seinfeld creator Larry David apparently dated Monica Yates, daughter of Revolutionary Road novelist Richard Yates. The two remained friends after breaking up, and thus she became the model for Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes. Elaine’s father, an alcoholic and very well-respected member of the literary community, even makes an appearance on the show.

Given the dysfunction in the nice home on Revolutionary Road, it makes sense that the movie’s nearly invisible children would have monumental issues when they grow up. Elaine Benes indeed.

Special notice goes to the emotionally disturbed visitor who introduces a shocking, darkly funny Greek chorus effect, while cutting close to the bone about how such a mentally disordered guy becomes practiced at the art of harmful social interaction.

Edge - Risqué 2.0

The arguments are far more spectacular than the sex, perhaps explaining why this marriage is doomed.

Reality - Natural 1.0

While the story purports to be about how the ‘burbs turn people into shallow assholes, it can be seen more broadly as being about how the mass prosperity that began washing over America in the 50s and 60s offered “lifestyle options” for millions of people. Presented with these choices, many people found out that unbridled freedom isn’t necessarily conducive to happiness. It is, however, seductive. Thus the self-indulgent behavior shown in the movie was but a taste of what was to come in well-off homes through the 60s and the Me Decade of the 70s. This departure from traditional mores explains a goodly chunk of upscale America going from Republican to Democrat on the abortion issue alone. That’s probably not what the producers meant to convey, but sometimes a movie can function as an artistic Freudian slip.

On a more prosaic note, Richard Yates worked as a publicity writer for Remington Rand Corporation, a pioneering computer manufacturer. Surely he channeled this experience into the misfit career of Frank Wheeler, the husband in the story. I got a personal kick out of these work scenes, since my career has included stints explaining the function and value of “inventory control” and other workaday systems. Unlike Yates, I wasn’t able to turn the resulting copy into poetry, but was able to remain energized by the value and intellectual vigor of the work.

2 Comments

• BrianSez Jun 13, 2010 1:59PM

  Yeah – maybe I was a bit liberal with that acting. Mostly due to Kate – who impressed me in this one.

• Wick Jun 13, 2010 12:16AM

  Regarding BrianSez’s Review
  So you graded a movie more liberally than me, Bri. Rare. Mostly you went 4.5 on the acting, while I couldn’t see more than 4.0. No harm, no foul. T’was great acting. Really great? Maybe. But I’m comfortable sticking at just great.

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