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Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?

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Iceland Spar
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
A little off topic, but I just wanted to say that the best Halloween costume I saw this year - Don and Betty Draper. Riding crop and all for Betty. and Don was a dead ringer. Unfortunately, no one watches Mad Men and so no one knew who the couple was.
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♥AntiSocialSocialite♥
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
the only reason I checked Revolutionary Road out of the library was because of the commercial they aired during Mad Men.... exact themes of the episode.

Great book - and I'll definitely be seeing the movie.
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Pope John Peeps II
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
Hooray! Maybe the Mad Men 50s era faux nostalgia backlash can finally start up for real, and maybe I won't have to deal with friggin Mad Men for years more, and they'll finally cancel goddamn Don Draper and his goddamn school of method-wooden-face-barber-shop-wooden-indian-face-acting.
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Pope John Peeps II
11/15/08

@Pope John Peeps II: woop. wooden-indian-statue-face-acting is how that sentence is supposed to end.
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Neutralize
11/15/08

@Pope John Peeps II: I refuse to watch the show because I feel like it's too late (baby) for me to start, but you're the only person I've come across who's seen it and doesn't love it. Which makes you fascinating.
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Pope John Peeps II
11/15/08

@Neutralize: It's just so silly and manipulative. It sort of ticks along like a watch late at night on your bedstand whose noise you start to loathe. It hits all the right tee vee buttons, but in a way that pisses me off. Let's pile a bunch of stock characters into this drama. Oh the manly man. Oh the sassy breasted woman. Oh the wallflower secretary. Ugh. And the adulation. Oh lord the adulation. So Mad Men remains, while Pushing Daisies, which I like a lot, gets the boot. Friggin' tee vee.
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dandles
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
Ok, even the Amazon description makes the book seem really interesting.
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youngmarblegiant
11/15/08

@dandles:Honestly, it is the best American novel ever. Perfect sentences. Perfect insights. You will hate yourself just a little and that is why many people do not like Richard Yates.
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jrhys
11/15/08

@youngmarblegiant: Hello! Yes the prose is amazing. just marvelous. And it's was first novel the poor guy.
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MrInBetween
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
Can a hack director destroy a great story despite a great cast and a great cinematographer? Of course he can.
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T.S._delegate
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
Um, I'm sorry- maybe I'm a total cheez-whiz generational product- but I thought that trailer was fucking beautiful. Maybe American Beauty-beautiful, but beautiful still. Leave my husband and his acting skills alone!
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LipstickLibrarian
11/15/08

@T.S._delegate: I have never been ashamed of my love for Kate, Leo, and Kate & Leo. I also adore Mad Men and Revolutionary Road, but don't think that liking one means you automatically like the other.

That said, I know what this year's Xmas Day movie will be . . .
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SinisterRouge
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
Sam Mendes is a hack. Terrible, terrible director. That trailer made me want to vomit. And I love Kate Winslet (I feel bad now that she's married to him). There is nothing I hate more than movies/shows that are all about couples fighting before they divorce. Ugh. So fucking just unnecessary and gross.

And FUCK NO this shit is nothing like Mad Men. Mad Men rules.
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Baroness
11/15/08

@SinisterRouge: Yeah. Mad Men has the luxury of sprawl and time, they can lade each show with tiny moments of nuance and detail, which we love.. I even love discussing each ep. with people, because they put so much in; it rewards close attention, as well as cultural literacy and memory..

Hard to pull off in a 2 hour movie.. the trailer makes me feel like I already know what it's about. But i'm a big fan of Cheever's stories, so the Yates book sounds like something I'll pick up.
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jrhys
11/15/08

@Baroness: The book is phenomenal, and I really don't mean that lightly.
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SinisterRouge
11/15/08

@Baroness: I also think the book (which I have not read) is something I would greatly enjoy. I just think Mendes is a treacly fuck and a bad director. The trailer made me uncomfortable.

Full disclosure: I also love Titanic and all its cheesy glory.
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JoelTannenbaum
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
Cat Power is the bee's knees, by golly, but ain't that song a bit anachronistic for the material? Strange choice.

Anyway, I don't think I've been impressed by Leo since Gilbert Grape. I think Titanic sucked the acting life out of him and he's been phoning it in ever since. Shame...
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TheJerseyDevil
11/15/08

@JoelTannenbaum: Agreed on the song--I hear it and immediately think of Jennifer Garner holding the baby in Juno.

The Departed is the only thing I've ever seen DiCaprio in and not thought "Hey, I'm watching Leonardo DiCaprio!"
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SinisterRouge
11/15/08

@TheJerseyDevil: Totally. He needs to go that bigger, older working-class thing that he can do. When he looks like this he's just pretty boy DiCaprio. Also, Sam Mendes: HACK.

I did enjoy The Beach a whole fuck of a lot.
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youngmarblegiant
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
I still refuse to believe this is happening. Sam Mendes is the worst. To feel better, I am going to reread the novel for the fifth time.
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alorsenfants
11/15/08

@youngmarblegiant: @SinisterRouge: @MrInBetween:

Thank you kindly!

If James Cameron's "Titanic" speaks, in at least a number of ways, about how the Academy's idea of 'best picture' is often seriously warped, then I don't want to begin to think about what this guy will do to "Revolutionary Road".

You may think Leo and Kate were pretty damn good in "Titanic" (even if they often weren't) after Mendes gets through with them.
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jrhys
11/15/08

@Better to Eat You With: I'm sure Kate and Leo helped but its not a new idea to make a film of this book. It was optioned for the first time right after it came out - John Frankenheimer was supposed to direct it and Yates really wanted Jack Lemmon for Frank Wheeler. It went in and out of option and development for years. I am bummed Mendes is on it, I don't think he has the wit and humor for the material. IMHOP the very best director for this would have been Douglas Sirk. If you want a reeeal bummer read Yates's biography, bleak doesn't begin to describe his life.
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92BuickLeSabre
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
It's a little unfortunate, for them and to me.

Part of why I love Mad Men is the way the Drapers bring the essence of and a twist on Revolutionary Road to life. (Although Don is actually cooler, I do think Betty has a lot of unspoken April in her.)

And now compared to Hamm and Jones, well, I'm just not as interested in Leo and Kate.

Which is a bummer, because I was once really looking forward to this.
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Understater
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
Well, judging from the trailer alone (which is a bad idea, granted), this flick has nothing on Mad Men in terms of wit and nuance. DiCaprio never did anything for me. Winslet is a great actress but I've seen her do the tortured-wife bit already in Little Children.
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eatsshootsleaves
11/15/08

In reply to Is Revolutionary Road Too Mad Men?
God, Leonardo DiCaprio still looks 16 when he doesn't have any facial hair.
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