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The more I see of their work, the more I realise that directors Ed Zwick and Sam Mendes have one thing very sharply in common -- both are filmmakers who make movies that they think are far more important than they actually are.

Both excitingly well made and dispiritingly formulaic.

Mendes has made a troubling film that wrestles with big themes and touchy subjects, even if it is set in an overly familiar milieu.

Bolstered by Thomas Newman's score, spot-on set design and the brilliant source material, "Revolutionary Road" is a darkly effective portrait of an Eisenhower-era couple who fall tragically short of reaching Camelot.

Even if you have a taste as I do for movies about dysfunctional families, you may be a little put off by the Grapes.

Suggests that the true heroes are those people who day by day must tend to misfits, and do so with love, tenacity and a determination not to go terminally sour in the process.

Although the film, like most films that deal with drug issues, has a preachy sincerity and a focus on the woes of drug use it makes for effective, compelling viewing.

For those few soul-freezing moments, you get a glimpse of the great actor Leonardo DiCaprio is going to be.

Something more subtle is going on in Wolff's book, a confrontation with a richer, quirkier past and his emerging self that the movie too often brushes aside.

The leads work overtime to make their characters and their relationships pungent, believable, and moving.