SAM MENDES' film work is a distinct, not an acquired taste. You either love it or loath it. Try being middle-of-the-road on "American Beauty" or "Road to Perdition," or even "Jarhead." It doesn't play.
Mendes is not giving us a break with his latest, "
Revolutionary Road," starring his wife, Kate Winslet, and Kate's former "Titanic" co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio. They immerse themselves so completely in their current roles that the memory of their star-making shipboard romance doesn't even register. This time out the boat is their marriage, the iceberg is reality.