MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Rated PG-13

Directed by David Fincher .  Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett

Photo © Paramount Pictures
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

 I had heard that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a meditation on mortality; and so it is.  If this film is any indication of things to come, baby boomers are not going to go gently into that good night.

The two big messages of the film are: 1. Things change; and 2. People die.  The visual magic and sense of wonder is strong in this fantastic tale of a man who is born old and ages backwards.  But once you get past the beauty of how this story is told – well --- it’s just not that much of a story.

If you take away the gimmick of the backwards ageing hero (which doesn’t really enter into the plot half as much as you might think), it’s just another gentle walk through history with a bunch of colorful eccentric characters à la 1994’s “Forrest Gump” (also written by Eric Roth).

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are both fine as the generationally challenged lovers, but the script keeps them unnecessarily apart for most of the film, so it’s hard to work up much of an emotional attachment to the relationship.  The script gets mighty pretentious at times.  There were at least two occasions when the narrator engaged in elaborate soliloquies about banal topics (one about how tragic it is that folks in nursing homes die so regularly, and the other about how most accidents could be avoided if only people and cars weren’t in the same place at the same time). 

There’s a lot of craft involved in this movie and you probably should see it once simply to marvel at the artistic quality.  But once will likely be enough.  The film’s almost three hours long.  I’ve only got about 30 years to live, and I need to use my time wisely! 

Pitchfork Rating: Three halos . (A gentle, quirky film about how time takes its toll on all of us.)
Two pitchforks (Some war violence, as much mild sexual suggestion (including a trip to a brothel) as you can squeeze into a PG-13 movie, and brief swearing, including the singular occurrence of the F-bomb.)

COMMENTS!

Do you have comments about this movie or movie review? Email comments. (Your comments will be posted to our web site.)