The Oscar bait of 'Revolutionary Road'

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are teaming up again (I know old news) for Revolutionary Road, directed by Kate’s hubby Sam Mendes.
If this does not scream Oscar bait then I do not know what does.
This has all the callings of the type of film the Academy LOVES!
Oscar calibre cast…check.
Respected Director…check.
Adaptation of beloved literary novel to make the academy feel high brow…check
Plus so much more!!

There is also news of the casting of fellow Titanic alumni Kathy Bates. It will be good to see Bates with another role, and we know what she can do with supporting work (steal the film) and I wouldn’t be surprised if she found herself up for Oscar nomination number four in 2009. (Beloved veteran actor…check)

Set in 1955 (period costume…check), the novel focuses on the hopes and aspirations of Frank and April Wheeler, self-assured Connecticut suburbanites who see themselves as very different from their neighbours in the Revolutionary Hill Estates in which they have just moved. (American setting…check)

April Wheeler (Kate Winslet), with her thespian ambitions and her plans to move to Paris, is doomed, ultimately, to failure. (actor, playing actor…check)
Her fantasies about Parisian life are the more absurd for being supported by her belief that her husband is fluent in French but he knows the language hardly at all, he once drunkenly boasted about his proficiency. (Suffering wife...check...the Academy loves this type of role more than any other)


Frank Wheeler's (Leonardo DiCaprio) sense of his lawless masculinity coexists with his bland acceptance of a futile corporation job. To cope with his failings he often drinks too much and finds himself engaging in an affair with a co-worker. The narrative details the day-to-day lives of this couple and their concerns for their future. (drug dependency and extra marital affair…check)

Basically it will be pretty tough for this to fail in all aspects. The Academy are going to be looking at rewarding both DiCaprio and Winslet, and this looks like it could be the one to do it.