Rating of
1.5/4
Disappointing
patjohnson76 - wrote on 01/14/09
A pretty disappointing film. I knew going in it wasn't going to be a happy movie but I was determined not to let that bother me. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get into these characters.
One of the biggest problems is the dialogue. What probably worked fine in print doesn't come off well on screen. Every now and then Kate and Leo spout off some melodramatic monologue that isn't the slightest bit realistic. The script also suffers because there's no balance - everyone on screen is miserable.
Kate and Leo start screaming at each other 5 minutes in and it doesn't let up until 2 hours later when the credits roll. It was impossible to feel sympathy for either of these two because we don't see how they got to this point, other than a couple throwaway lines. Also, I'm not sure what it was, but I think DiCaprio was miscast - I just couldn't buy him as this character. Kate Winslet is good, but too often she's shrieking one of the dumb monologues, which brings it down.
Could have been good, but the script just doesn't allow it. The only thing I liked was how realistic they made 1955 look.
