The ultimate suburban angst movie

After "Revolutionary Road" was over, I found myself literally jumping up and down in the parking lot of the AMC 30 in South Barrington.

"That movie was so damn good," I told my sisters, who agreed. I kept repeating it. This happens a few times year -- I see a movie so good that it can't be expressed in words alone. It happened three times in 2007, with "There Will Be Blood," "Zodiac" and "Ratatouille."

The trailers for "Revolutionary Road" admittedly make it look like a whiny bore. Does the world need another movie full of beautiful people living in a beautiful home with their beautiful children who just can't stand how ... beautiful their lives are? At first, "Revolutionary Road" seems like an extremely well-made variation of that story, directed by Sam "American Beauty" Mendes, of all people. It gets by on its '60s atmosphere and the undeniable star power of its two leads for a good long while. If we're going to watch two people scream at each other, it might as well be Kate and Leo.

But "American Beauty" veered into fantasyland with its sitcom plot points and its sarcastic, over-the-top performance by Kevin Spacey. "Revolutionary Road" stays firmly in the real world, and it all feels so ... right.

Richard Yates' novel was written in 1962, when America's gender roles still seemed to be defined by "Leave it to Beaver." Mendes' film retains the setting, but doesn't feel dated in the slightest. Perhaps we haven't come so far -- so much of this film seems to have been culled from my real life in so many different ways. It is both a recognition of suburban angst and an indictment of those who would succumb to it. Mendes' movie appears to be mocking the problems, both real and perceived, that suburbanites feel. Some will regard this as cruel. I regard it as darkly hilarious.

Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) wants to break out of his workaday routine at the company where his father worked. His wife, April (Kate Winslet), is a failed actress who has dreams of moving the family to Paris, where Frank can "finally figure out what he wants to do with his life," and April can work for the government instead of being a housewife. Frank buys into the idea one night after sharing a hotel room with a secretary at work; finally, his wife is happy.

But what will the neighbors think? She is going to support him? He's going to pass up a promotion at work? Their perfect suburban life isn't enough for them?

Things only get more complicated when April discovers she's pregnant with their third child. Can they afford to move to Paris with another on the way?

Enter John Givings (Michael Shannon), the mentally disturbed son of the woman who sold the Wheelers their house. His mother (Kathy Bates) brings him to meet the couple, and he sees right through their facade. Shannon's performance has been praised for its intensity and its menace, but my sisters and I -- and the rest of the Friday night crowd -- thought his two scenes were brutally funny, in the worst way. John acknowledges the problems of suburbia, and then tears them down for how silly they can be. We laugh because we've had the same arguments over the same things. We laugh because we also do a lot of talking without really saying anything. We laugh, so that we do not cry.

I know, I'm not making this sound like a fun night at the movies. And for many of you, it won't be. (The final act is certainly nothing I'd call fun.) But this movie will speak to you in some way, and many who see it will probably try to deny it. It speaks to me on so many specific levels -- my own frustration with routine, my yearning for something more even though I have so much, my relationship with an actress who took a giant risk without me while I stayed behind at "the job," her own struggle with her role as a young woman ... the parallels go on, but any longtime suburbanite will recognize the struggles even if they can't specifically relate to them.

The truth hurts. In "Revolutionary Road," it hurts so good.