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'Road' rage: 'Titanic's' lovers reunite in dark suburban drama

JUDGING BY the arc of the Kate and Leo movies, falling in love with DiCaprio is much easier than actually being married to the guy.

The block between April and Frank (Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio) is bigger, colder and more formidable than the iceberg that sundered Kate and Leo in "Titanic."
The block between April and Frank (Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio) is bigger, colder and more formidable than the iceberg that sundered Kate and Leo in "Titanic."Read more

JUDGING BY the arc of the Kate and Leo movies, falling in love with DiCaprio is much easier than actually being married to the guy.

The many millions who swooned over their romance in "Titanic" should expect to encounter a very different couple in "Revolutionary Road." The bloom is very much off the rose.

The movie opens with a spectacular squabble - housewife and frustrated actress April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) has just made a terrible debut in a play mounted by a dreadful amateur troupe, and is getting no consolation from her husband, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio), whose smirk says, "I told you so," even if he doesn't say the words.

Their boiling argument is too volatile to be conducted safely in the front seat of their automobile, so Frank pulls over, and the two air their bitterness on the side of the road.

It's, well, a titanic spat, and gives Winslet and DiCaprio a chance to prove they're just as good clawing at each other as they are staring dreamily into each other's eyes. The insults are ruthlessly hurled, and deeply felt, even though we barely know them at this early juncture.

I wish I could say things improve, but that is not to be in Sam Mendes' somber adaptation of Richard Yates' classic novel of suburban despair, published in 1961 when the idea of suburban despair was not so well worn.

In Yates' book, the generation of World War II vets who spawned the baby boom was not yet The Greatest Generation. It was, in fact, "the least vital and most terrified in modern times." Exhibit A: Frank Wheeler, who came home from the war with a vague idea about a bohemian life, but instead ends up in a bedroom community, with a paper-pushing job at his father's staid New York firm.

Until recently, the Wheelers haven't taken things seriously. They're a fun, popular couple whom people admire because they view their suburban life with detached amusement. In a memorable scene, a neighbor (Kathy Bates) brings her middle-aged, mentally unstable son (accomplished movie weirdo Michael Shannon) to dine with them, knowing they'll be hip enough to deal with him.

Eventually, though, the Wheelers realize this isn't an ironic phase, it's their life. It's at this moment that we meet them - panicked, unhappy and desperate, until April hatches a wild plan to drop out and move to Paris with their two kids. She'll support them while Frank dusts off his abandoned dreams of thinking, writing, whatever.

The scheme's a little vague, and it's no wonder they get strange looks from neighbors and colleagues. The passionate April's all in, but Frank, behind his wife's back, keeps hedging his bets. Things at work improve, and the prospect of more money makes the gray flannel suit suddenly feel more comfortable.

This is a tough role for DiCaprio, whose character is revealed to be a bit of a weasel. He doesn't shrink from showing us Frank's spineless side, a side he hides from his wife, with tragic consequences.

It's a shrewd piece of acting, but, needless to say, quite a downer in a movie that's increasingly suffocating. April's Paris-or-die ultimatum seems a little severe, with lively Manhattan just a train ride away, and scenes of her dragging the garbage can to the curb, as if it contains her crushed soul, are a little much.

As a frustrated housewife, Winslet had more to go on in "Little Children," and seemed to be trying much less hard. *

Produced by Sam Mendes, Bobby Cohen, John N. Hart and Scott Rudin, directed by Sam Mendes, written by Justin Haythe, music by Thomas Newman, distributed by DreamWorks Pictures.