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Essentially a less comical remake of writer Eric Roth's script of Forrest Gump, Benjamin Button is a film with a mood most magical, but a story most silly and seen before. I do believe, unlike Roger Ebert for example, that it is possible to relate with a character who ages backwards. I just don't think it's possible with this film. This Curious Case never builds to an emotional peak or a grand discovery. It's a cold, analytical story from beginning to end. In some films, such would be an achievement, but here, we already know what it will be going in. A story about a man who ages from being 80 to being 0 can have no happy ending. A good film, and a good story, should always attempt to transcend it's humble origins. This movie does not rise above what we expect of it in any way. Director David Fincher manages to create a very nice mood, as if that of a fairytale, but he never makes any use of this athmosphere. Brad Pitt, and the rest of the cast, seem very depressed and outright sad to be in this film. I know they're supposed to be depressed in a way, but that doesn't mean they would always have to have their voices so low you have to turn your volume to the max to hear their incoherent babbling. The major issue with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is that you can read the synopsis of the film and know what the message will be, and the movie never manages to rise above this supposition the viewer makes, instead just delivering 2½ hours of what we already know - that it's very depressing to live your life backwards.
4/10
