Sam Mendes' adaptation of Richard Yates' perfect novel Revolutionary Road hits theaters this Christmas with every Oscar pedigree imaginable. The new trailer, set to Cat Power's "Sea of Love", shows off the full range of conceivable Leonardo DiCaprio acting faces from Confused Leo to Angry Leo, to Constipated Leo. Kate Winslet, the other half of the film's unhappy marriage, likewise spends the whole film angsty and pained. While we appreciate being able to imagine how unpleasant it would have been if the two had gotten together in Titanic, the movie more closely resembles a certain period drama that won an Emmy. Could awards voters really love the late '50s and early '60s that much, and will their love translate into box office? Trailer after the jump.

After waiting so long to see Yates' masterpiece brought to the screen, the casting of Titanic duo DiCaprio and Winslet had a chance to look like a gimmick, and while Mendes is a talented director, previous trailers have hewed dangerously close to American Beauty with period costumes. This tremendous preview may put some of those questions to rest, but it raises a few more. The original Revolutionary Road wasn't a period piece — published in 1962, it was Yates' dramatic verdict on the entire decade of the 1950s, and the first and most important such appraisal to hit bookstores. Now that we've had time to reflect further on the decade, the themes of Road will still ring true on an artistic level. And frankly, it's going to be tough to make anything bad out of this book. Will being a serious film for adults be enough to carry it to success at the box office, though?

One of the problems Mad Men faced in attracting an audience through its first two seasons, though, was the fact that some older folks aren't as eager to be reminded about their formative years as others: the show did it best ratings in young, wealthy demos. Although Revolutionary Road and its Yonkers-born author are more well-known now than ever, the book's built in audience couldn't match the standard Obama rally. Road will have to appeal on its own merits, and even if it gets the entire Mad Men audience, that won't mean much for the film's receipts. Basically, it better be just as good as this preview indicates it might be and grab an Oscar nod, or else.