comment #1

erniesouchak says ...

Regardless of whether the film works, reducing the Wheelers' conundrum to a choice between safety and fulfillment is a bit of an oversimplification. We all make decisions based on what feels right to us at a given time, and assuming we grow, as we grow, some of those choices come back to haunt us. On another note, I don't think anyone will come out of the movie seeing April as a feminist heroine because she isn't given enough dimension in the script. I was more often annoyed by the character and found her remote. I doubt anyone finished the book thinking of her as a feminist, either (I suspect Yates would've hated the thought), but at least the book gave us a sense of the unhappiness that pervaded her life before she met Frank.

comment #2

joncro says ...

I would bet that it's a lower percentage of the U.S. populace... maybe 60-70. Still a big chunk but not 90 percent.

I think a lot of people are happy enough with their jobs, cars, Playstations and whatever..... We grow up and learn that you can't have it all, and see that a lot of people who do have a lot are still screwed up, that the job we wished we had is unbearably stressful, whatever it is.

I haven't seen the movie but in the trailer, when he's talking about Paris, it made me laugh... Grow up a little and understand that some young people in Paris are probably wistfully wishing they could live in the Connecticut suburbs - people are so free there, not like here.

A great movie would have them move to Paris and hate it.

comment #3

vansmith says ...

In the 50's coming out of the war, getting a wife and a house an kids was THE dream and once you were in it you probably realized it came with a sense of finality, thats why all the booze and smokes an affairs, the repression descended slowly and then all those marriages broke up in the 70's the me decade, now we have enough toys to keep us distracted from what dreams we may have and have'nt fulfilled.

comment #4

Sabina E says ...

happiness is an illusion anyway.

I dont think most Americans are ever really happy.

there's more to life than just having a good job, a pretty wife, and a nice house, but that's just my opinion, of course.

comment #5

btwnproductions says ...

In the book, both characters are pretty dim bulbs. Turning April into a "feminist heroine" is a reductive cop-out. (Non-conformity didn't work out too well for Yates, either; he saw the trap in that, too, and was never at home anywhere.)

comment #6

Bubyubb says ...

1) Oh yeah, people accepted it back then and they're much more open and questioning now. That's why people drank so much more then, because they were HAPPY.

2) If Revolutionary Road really had balls it would have set it in the present day, instead of patting the audience on the head by setting it in the bad old 50s. More pandering from the maker of American Beauty.

comment #7

DarthCorleone says ...

There's no question I'm creatively unfulfilled and that it's going to be a major source of deathbed consternation (should I have a deathbed).

That said, if everyone gave into the lofty dreams of missed opportunities because the malaise of the path of least resistance was too much to handle, the wheels of society as we know it would grind to a halt fairly quickly. Many realize correctly that there does come a point at which compromises must be made to at least some degree. There also comes a point at which many correctly accept that they simply don't have the talent to fulfill that creative itch. Sometimes the trick is recognizing the pipe dream from the viable possibility and coming to peace with that distinction.

comment #8

YRG says ...

To me, this is a comedy. I plan to see it and laugh.
I hope that someday we will look back on overly dramatic pieces like this and see them much like we now see the earnest commercials of the 50s-- as relics of a past long gone. The way this is being marketed-- I cannot identify with either character... too much yelling and shouting... too melodramatic. The cinematography is nice, though, and there are moments when Leo DiCaprio reminds me of Ray Liotta.

comment #9

AlgonquinRed says ...

I see it as a comedy too, YRG.

The simplistic message that unless you've oh-so-wisely devoted your life to the creation of a respectable but middle-of-the-road movie blog site, or the creation of respectable but middle-of-the-road, overly-burnished Hollywood dramas (Mendes), you're wasting your life.

comment #10

btwnproductions says ...

I would add that it's best to embark upon these adventures in the self before acquiring a family. But we're not always gifted with the necessary foresight and introspection to do so.

comment #11

Ethan says ...

Is it too late for Sam Mendes to go back and insert "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads over the end credits?

comment #12

Gordie Lachance says ...

Belloc

How could they set this story in the present day, when that would negate the 2 main points of the story? (ie. in the 50's, once you're pregnant, your life's over, and, if you don't conform to all the little polite social lies we all live with, you're condemned to a mental institution).

I never saw this story as being about creative unfulfillment. It's about never being able to know anyone else, or even yourself. The Paris thing was about getting away from all the stupid, empty, vapid drones in this country who are content with a night out at Applebees and a sit-com. It's still a better option in that regard.

comment #13

Bubyubb says ...

"How could they set this story in the present day, when that would negate the 2 main points of the story? (ie. in the 50's, once you're pregnant, your life's over, and, if you don't conform to all the little polite social lies we all live with, you're condemned to a mental institution)."

By taking the core of what it's about-- dissatisfaction with marriage, materialism, middle age-- and updating it. So it really gets under our skins by hitting us where we live, instead of letting us think that we're so much more self-realized than our parents or grandparents.

People will still be talking about the Fight Club rant about duvets, long after this is forgotten, in other words.

comment #14

Bubyubb says ...

"The one bright light is the prospect of gradual betterment offered by Barack Obama."

And Christ, if you think any of the stuff this is REALLY about has jack all to do with what politicians do, you're crazy. Tell me how the auto bailout is going to satisfy the dreams of lost youth. Tell me how universal health care is going to make your spouse understand you better. Jesus H. Christmas Tree.

comment #15

Jay T. says ...

"If Revolutionary Road really had balls it would have set it in the present day, instead of patting the audience on the head by setting it in the bad old 50s. More pandering from the maker of American Beauty."

I guess you're a believer in the "author doesn't exist" theory. He based the move on the fucking book - don't be ridiculous.

comment #16

Bubyubb says ...

I'm so sorry, I didn't realize that.

Pretty impressive of Shakespeare to write Romeo and Juliet about Puerto Rican gangs in New York City, too.

comment #17

jhollywood56 says ...

Finally just saw it last night. The big thing that stuck out to me was that it seemed too short. Like a middle portion of it was missing. Haven't read the book so I can't compare but, yeah, liked it. Wanted more.

comment #18

MattyC says ...

BL:

How must it feel to be so awesome?

I bet it feels pretty good.

R+J has been performed/filmed/seen probably more than any other piece of literature, so a reimagining nearly 400 years after its debut is hardly comparable.

Look for a Revolutionary Road more suitable to your modern sensibilities in 2408.

comment #19

Bubyubb says ...

MattyC, remind me which statute sets out exactly how old a piece has to be before you can change where it's set.

My point, which is plain enough, is that if you didn't want it to be a nostalgia piece which allows the audience to feel they don't share the characters' dilemmas but they belong safely to the past, then update the surface details and keep the central drama that really matters, which is surely as relevant to lives in 2008 as in 1958. An adaptation that says your world of surfing the web and inner city loft living and HDTV is empty would have been a lot ballsier than one that says your parents' world of suburbia and station wagons was.

comment #20

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comment #21

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