Seldom has a highly acclaimed movie, let alone the leading nominee at the Academy Awards, split our movie writers as has The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Because we know all of you who have seen the movie also don't agree on whether it's a case of great moviemaking, we thought we'd ask our critics to weigh in with mini-reviews.
LIZ BRAUN
1.5 (out of 5)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a short story about a man born old who ages backward. The ever-younger hero is a metaphor for many things, but particularly what happens when you step outside your social role.
On the screen, the story is a matter of special effects run amok. The film is a clumsy bit of storytelling -- ambitious, showy and full of glued-on meaning. F. Scott Fitzgerald's metaphor is now a literal aging scenario, and so we have Brad Pitt born old and growing up in an old folks home, and then falling in love with Cate Blanchett, a situation that involves plenty of CGI and latex.
At 2 hours 45 minutes, the film is way past self-indulgent. Much has been made of the fact that Eric Roth wrote the screenplay, and he's the man responsible for Forrest Gump, which says it's okay to be stupid.
This movie is a meditation on the passage of time, so maybe it says it's okay to do whatever you must to keep looking young? It came from Hollywood, so that would make sense.
BRUCE KIRKLAND
2.5 (out of 5)
Curious indeed: Between idea and execution there is fuzzy thinking involved in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Despite the fuss, this is a bizarre film with an absurd number of Oscar nominations. On the plus side, David Fincher's film explores nothing less than mortality, chronicles the capricious nature of romance and then adopts a tone of profound melancholy. Viewers are left in a state of reverie. No mean feat when many films leave us in a state of agitation.
But the execution makes mockery of logic. The time reversal -- Brad Pitt's Benjamin is born as a tiny, wizened old man and ages, by getting younger until he dies as a baby -- is a gimmick that ultimately makes no sense. Why is he born the size of a baby and die the size of a baby? In F. Scott Fitzgerald's original short story, a satire, the character is born man-sized and regresses toward baby-size. Even fantasies are ruled by logic.
Then there is Pitt, Oscar nominee as best actor. Yes, he does his job in a workmanlike manner, enduring Greg Cannom's amazing makeup and striking the right notes for melancholy. But best actor? This is an Alice in Wonderland curiosity.
JIM SLOTEK
3 (out of 5)
Okay, I'm not as harsh on Benjamin Button as Jon Stewart, who described it as "a combination of Forrest Gump and... (eyes closed, makes snoring noises)."
But having seen it twice -- the second time with my wife, who loved it -- I have one question for people who take me to task for not lo-o-o-oving this feel-good movie.
Who is Benjamin Button, the character? Yes, I know, he's a guy who's born old and grows younger. Hurray for FX and makeup! But does he have a temper? A sense of humour? What gets him excited? Is he ever remorseful? Does he ever curse the gods, indulge in self-pity or react in any way remotely human, other than drinking until he throws up the first time he tries it? Does he have a philosophy of life deeper than a fortune cookie?
In this sense, he's a cypher, a blank slate to bounce off other characters and events. Much like Gump and his box of chocolates. Crowd-pleasing? Yes. Dramatically stimulating? No.
KEVIN WILLIAMSON
4.5 (out of 5)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is melancholic, messy, sad and magical. By focusing its lens through the eyes of a protagonist who ages in reverse it taps into desires as old as time: The wish to turn back the clock, to be able to enjoy life at the end when it is the most fragile, to cling to people and places despite the knowledge that nothing endures. Ambitious themes, yes, but beguilingly juggled by director David Fincher who has made a film with sweep, restraint and resonance.
Visually, the movie, expanded by from a 1921 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, is a marvel. Chiefly there is Button himself, played with understated poignancy by Brad Pitt. Born a shriveled bundle of cataracts and withered bones in 1918, he inexplicably grows younger -- a condition startlingly portrayed through digital effects. Even the romance that defines his life -- with a ballet dancer named Daisy (Cate Blanchett) -- is satisfyingly bereft of melodrama. Instead the movie derives its emotional pull from the irreversible realities of Button's blessing/plight.
Not convinced? Put it this way: It's just like Paul Blart: Mall Cop. But with Brad Pitt. Really.
