Review: Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3 Lloyds – Cautionary Family-Friendly
PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking.
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Running Time: 2 hours 47 minutes

“I was born under unusual circumstances…”
And so begins The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

This is the story about a man who was born in his 80’s, and then ages backward. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is adapted from the 1920’s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in New Orleans, the story starts from the end of World War I in 1918. It follows the journey of Benjamin from then, into the 21st century. While Benjamin is 80 when he’s born, at the age of 50 he begins aging backward. During the course of his life he falls in love with a woman of 30. This of course involves many complications.

But through it all, Benjamin Button is curious not only about his life, but about every facet of living life in an ever changing world.

Go Easy On The Popcorn & Pop!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is up for 13 Academy Awards, including one for Best Adapted Screenplay. With that in mind, one would think this must be an outstanding movie. While I agree, it is an intriguing and interesting movie, I fail to see the hype saying this is a great or a fantastic flick. At best, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a good movie. Cate Blanchett is of course wonderful and Brad Pitt is his predictable soft-spoken innocent-school-boy self. But, clocking in at close to three hours, there are portions of Benjamin Button which fall into the snooze-fest category. Yes, there are some great portions of the movie too, but it simply struggles to hold ones attention for a total of three hours.

I actually skipped the initial screening of this movie simply because of the length. Sitting in a movie theater from 7pm to 10pm is just out of the question. What’s even more amazing about the length revolves around the fact that theater managers even know it’s too long. When asking about attendance at Benjamin Button managers tell me – “It’s a matinee movie. People aren’t willing to sit through a 3 hour movie in the evening.”

But, the problems with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button don’t end just at the length. Some of the other issues are glaring, and I’m amazed that more people have not mentioned these. Maybe it’s because many are afraid to buck the trend of Hollywood as they try to manufacture a box office hit. Which, by the way, Benjamin Button has not become. No matter how many screens they expand this flick to, it barely cracks the weekend top 10 list.

Am I Watching A Remake?

At times watching Benjamin Button was like watching earlier box office smash hits, only with different people. I actually made a note on BlackBerry which said – Is Benjamin Button nothing more than a remake of earlier award winning movies? One scene comes straight out of the Titanic play-book. The only difference, instead of having Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet standing on the deck of an ocean liner, we have Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett striking the famous Titanic pose on the deck of a tug boat.

Then there’s the fact that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is, at many times, like watching the 1994 Tom Hanks hit Forrest Gump. The only difference is that Benjamin Button is living his life backwards. Some of the characters are so close this really could have been a clone to Forrest Gump. The sea-faring Captain Dan who introduces Forrest to some worldly pleasures appears as Captain Mike here who does the same thing for Benjamin.

Aside from the remake quality of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the overall movie is filmed well. The story is told well as we flash back and forth between the present and the past. The common thread is Daisy on her death-bed listening to her daughter Caroline reading the the diary of the love of her life. Benjamin Button is also an interesting look at life through the eyes of a man living life in reverse. After exploring the world, Benjamin returns to New Orleans saying “When you go back home you realize the only thing that’s changed, is you.”

I struggled with our family rating on Benjamin Button. It carries a PG-13 rating and that’s close to what it should be. I bounced back and forth between not family-friendly and cautionary family-friendly. I finally settled on cautionary because I really can’t justify bouncing this movie right out of the family-friendly arena. I ended up in the cautionary category for a couple reasons. First off, for content. Secondly because of length. Young teens will simply struggle to sit through this three hour movie. It’s not action packed. Instead, it’s life-lesson packed.

In the end, after sitting through close to three hours of film time, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a movie about this “dance we call life.” It’s fascinating to watch the dance in reverse and see the lessons learned in “old age” spill over to experiences as a “young man.” But, I have to say the movie is probably best viewed at home. That way when you need a bathroom break after drinking too much pop, you can hit the pause button.

Enjoy the show!
Dr. Rus