Holiday Weekend Movie Forecast: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road, director Sam Mendes's screen adaptation of Richard Yates's novel, reunites Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet (Titanic) for a dreary tale of suburban and domestic ennui. Scott Foundas at the Village Voice writes, "Here, Kate and Leo once again strive to keep their heads above water, gasping for air. Only, in Revolutionary Road, the sinking ship pulling them down is their own marriage...It isn't a great movie—it lacks the full, soul-crushing force of the novel—but what works in it works so well, and is so tricky to pull off, that you can't help but admire it.

"To fully grasp Revolutionary Road is to understand that two people can be at their most alone when they are together—and Mendes, whose American Beauty rendered a similar investigation of suburban anomie as a gallery of over-the-top comic grotesques, willingly goes there. Where the earlier movie was easy to brush off, this one gets under your skin: It is to Mendes's great credit that Revolutionary Road will likely lead to some tense moments between many a young couple on their drive home from the cinema."