The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount Pictures)
The Curious Case of No Chemistry
Cate Blanchett is one of the most talented actresses on the planet. Brad Pitt gets better and better as he matures as an actor. So if you put these two superstars in a romantic movie they should exude passion and charisma from the screen in buckets, right Wrong! These two never connect in their new movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and this lack of connectivity removes the one element that is absolutely necessary for the film to succeed.
The movie is built around a gimmick Pitts character of Benjamin Button is born an aged man in a babys body. As he begins to grow up he becomes younger every day. At the end of his life he goes back to being a baby (why) and ends up a senile old man in a babys young body. Along the way he meets Daisy (Blanchett) who supposedly becomes the love of his life.
Because the movie is so quirky the love story becomes the touchstone to give the movie a semblance of reality. Daisy however comes across as a vain, foolish young woman who doesnt appreciate Benjamin until she suffers a tragedy in her life. Even then their relationship is tenuous at best, and certainly not the amazing love story it needs to be.
The side story of Benjamins life makes up the essence of the movie. We see his relationship with his adoptive mother (Taraji P Henson) and how she carves out an acceptable place for him at the old folks home she runs. We also see Benjamin first love affair with a married woman named Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton). Their bittersweet relationship is over much too soon.
There is a little too much gumpiness about Benjamin, but that may be because screenwriter Eric Roth also wrote the script for Forrest Gump. There are some parallels between the two movies in that Forrest/Benjamin have a sweet simplicity about their characters and see the world through optimistic eyes.
Pitt captures the essence of Benjamin and makes the audience like the boy/man as he goes on his convoluted journey. As he ages he does begin to look like the movie star handsome Brad Pitt but these younger days make up less of the movies time than the older ones.
Blanchett never seems to totally grasp the heart of Daisy but that could be more a fault of the script than her acting abilities. She does convince us she is a dancer of some ability which is necessary to the role. She also shines in the sequences where she is old and is commenting on Benjamins story.
Julia Ormand has the thankless role of Daisys daughter, and Jason Flemyng adds little as Benjamins father. Henson and Swinton are bright spots with their small roles.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and mild violence.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button should have been an epic film of a love that survives all manner of obstacles. Instead it is just a quirky piece of filmmaking that succeeds on Pitts acting ability and fails with his inability to connect with Blanchett.
I scored The Curious Case of Benjamin Button an aging 6 out of 10.
