Revolutionary Road (2008)

Is there a single calm meal in Revolutionary Road? Barely. Sam Mendes wraps Frank and April in perfect lawns and picture windows, then spends 119 minutes proving how badly the house fits them, and the shouting matches arrive in waves. Frank is so weak and self-pitying that it gets hard to care which way he jumps. Kate Winslet is the reason to stay. Her April is trapped, fierce and a step ahead of everyone in the room, and you can watch her deciding things before she says them. Leonardo DiCaprio is good at playing a man who can’t commit to his own dreams, which is no fun to sit with. Then Michael Shannon shows up as John Givings, a former mathematician visiting from a psychiatric hospital, saying every rude truth out loud, and he’s electric. It made $76 million worldwide on a reported $45M. A 7.0 because the acting is superb and the misery never lets up. $194 says you look at your own commute this week and price out a one-way ticket to Paris before lunch.

What works: Kate Winslet gives a ferocious, heartbreaking performance, and Michael Shannon’s few scenes as John Givings cut through every polite lie.

What doesn’t: The movie is so unrelentingly grim that it wears you down, and Frank’s self-pity makes him hard to care about for two hours.

Who it’s for: People who like intense marriage dramas and can handle a movie that offers no comfort at the end.