Benjamin Button left me incurious

Rating: 1/10 (1 January 2012)

It would be absolutely possible to forget all the logic errors and gaffes in this film if they had done a bit more with it. Unfortunately, they didn't. After about an hour my girlfriend and I lost interest without realising and found ourselves pottering around half watching . On reflection we put this down to the film being based on a plot that would only work with an appropriate level of emotional gravitas tugging it along - but it lacks this and the execution of the plot is emotionally lightweight and farcical. There is no depth here and you need depth to take you through 2 hours and 40 minutes. Benjamin is an unlikeable character. Actually, that is too strong as it suggests you might invest some emotion capital in him in some way.
The lack of emotional oomph means when we encounter (sadly inevitable) symbols representing fate and a more mystical side to the story these are laughable as this film will not sufficiently move or engage you enough to buy in to this cheesiness. Case in point: the hummingbird motif. A hummingbird flying by in the middle of the ocean somewhere North of Russia just because someone who talked about hummingbirds has just died is plain silliness. The motif-for-the sake-of-having-a-motif hummingbird does of course crop up at very vaguely poignant moments later in the film (as you would tiresomely expect).
The whole 'Bratt Pitt looking old' thing is slightly entertaining for about 3 minutes though.