I am a huge fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Great Gatsby is one of the best half dozen books yet published in this world, so I walked into Benjamin Button kinda curious of what would happen. I am well aware that millions of dollars were thrown at this film (a ton at the headliners salaries alone). Think Pitt, Blanchett, Ormond, Swinton. Pitt’s face is across the front cover of the poster so you do not forget you’re going to see his film, although in the actual film he didn’t do much for me. It’s difficult to be such a big budget film and not be enjoyable, and I don’t see many places where they could’ve trimmed the 160 minute film but I think I wanted to think more. I didn’t have to think, which made more time to listen to the squeaky theatre seat near me and never forget I was watching Blanchett and Pitt romp around the middle of the twentieth century.

Pitt & Blanchett

Don’t get me wrong. The screen play adaption was done well, the original is on my shelf, and I am curious enough to pick it up, but, as I said, Pitt just plays Pitt for me. Blanchett does wonderfully well, but not Oscar-worthy well (think Aviator’s Kate Hepburn toned way way way down). I did appreciate the juxtaposition of Pitt’s remarks about her blue of Blanchett’s eyes and then his foray with Swinton (who scares the hell outta me with those coal black eyes, pale pale demeanor and skin, and those androgynous features) albeit I hated the banality of the hummingbird who appears twice in the film (this is NO Zemeckis feather motif!!).

If you appreciated the special effects of Forrest Gump or the makeup of other period pieces, then this will be ok for you, too. Since I didn’t even realize Caroline (one of our narrators) was played by Julia Ormond, she must’ve been ok since, for me, she disappeared into character. The characters who age (or some who fail to) are relatively convincingly painted to look their ages, although some ages effects annoyed me when it came to Pitt. Another key player (to a degree) was Captain Mike (Jared Harris) who I appreciated for who and what he represented: an askew father figure in some ways as whimsically absent as Mr. Button (Jason Flemyng) is painstakingly present.

There are no real spoilers here. He dies. She dies. That’s it. But do we care? Some audience members cried, but my question was why? We know the end. I suppose for the same reason people still cry and gasp when Juliet stabs herself in the gut, but for me this film was Forrest Gump meets The Notebook, and it’s one notebook that’s fun for a night and quite forgettable in the long haul.