"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

By: Matt Duncan
Coastal View News

Both mysterious and tragic, Benjamin Button was born old and died
young. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," starring Brad Pitt and
Cate Blanchett, apes the dancing historical plot of "Forrest Gump" but
lacks nearly all of Gump's heart, sympathy and profundity. Star power
could not rescue this mundane three-hour marathon, making Pitt's
caked-on makeup the most interesting aspect of the film.

The unfortunate Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) was born in New Orleans
amidst cries of victory after the close of World War I. Like a normal
baby, Button possessed a meager stature and fragile frame. However,
the weakness shrouding Button's body was not the softness of youth but
instead was the worn muscles and calcified bones of old age. Instead
of smooth, delicate skin, Button's baby face looked more like an old
catcher's mitt.

With his mother dead and his father unwilling to raise him, Button is
appropriately abandoned on the doorstep of an old folks' home. The
owner, Mrs. Baker (Faune Chambers), and the aging residents of the
home take to the abnormal child as if he were one of their own.
Although the residents do not realize Button is younger than most of
their grandchildren, those who come into contact with him cannot help
but recognize that something is different. Instead of growing older
with time, Button ages in reverse. Instead of taking his first steps
away from a crib or stroller, he walks away from a wheelchair. Instead
of training wheels, Button uses canes to steady himself.

With the body of an old man but the curiosity of a young boy, Button
sets out to see the world. He finds his way aboard a tug boat, and
lets the currents take him where they may. He goes to Russia and
England, and even plays a role in World War II. Along the way he meets
strange women and has new experiences. He takes his first drink when
he looks to be 70 and is with a woman for the first time only shortly
thereafter.

Amidst these salty adventures, Button longs for Daisy (Cate
Blanchett), a girl he knew and loved while growing up in New Orleans.
Button knows Daisy as a young girl and Daisy knows Button as an old
man, yet the pair keeps in touch while they each chart their own
paths. Eventually Button and Daisy find their way back to each other
and fall in love. For several years (but merely ten or so minutes of
the film), Button and Daisy embark upon their adventures together with
rigorous passion, seemingly unaware of the implications of time.

Both Button and Daisy age, move inevitably through time, but in
opposite directions. While Daisy deals with wrinkles and joint pain,
Button gets stronger, sharper, but further away from the woman he
loves. When the time-accosted lovers learn they are to have a child,
Button must decide to stay or leave. Although Button and Daisy meet in
the middle for a few beautiful years, Benjamin Button ages just like
any other person. The true tragedy is not the in inevitability of
change, but in the peculiar current that continually pushes Button
further and further away from those he loves.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is intriguing at first, but
whatever scaffolding is meant to buttress the audience's curiosity is
none too interesting. Just like Forrest Gump, Benjamin Button is an
out-of-place Southerner who experiences only brief and often painful
encounters with the woman he loves while he is simultaneously
embarking on great historical adventures. But Gump is loving, kind,
loyal—unknowingly remarkable. Gump fits seamlessly into history and
the audience gets it. Button, on the other hand, is flat and static.
His character does not change—neither matures nor becomes more
immature—and the most vivacity we see from him is while he rides a
motorcycle. Instead of showing the passage of time through the
characters' relationship to historical events, "The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button" pointlessly augments its scope with a slapdash
assortment of events that go nowhere and have no significance to the
story.

This film has interest built in, and some may argue that Button's
humanity is realistic and thus a virtue of the film. However, it seems
to me that "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is remarkably
unremarkable.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is rated PG-13 for brief war
violence, sexual content, language and smoking.