3 hours that could have been 2

Rating: 2/10 (24 January 2009)

I saw this today and I came out of it relieved to see it end. This just went on too long and didn't need a lot of the exposition and filler it had to tell the story, which from what I've seen certainly was a lot shorter in F. Scott Fitzgerald print form.
There were three things about this movie that cause me to say it does not deserve to be Best Picture.
1) I understand the story that was trying to be told with the old woman and her daughter in the hospital. However, the constant cutaways to Benjamin's life story and then back to the hospital for this subplot just got to be annoying after awhile; i.e., this subplot just got in the way and added about 45 minutes of screen time that could have been shortened or just outright eliminated.
2) There were so many times in this movie as it moved along that I kept being reminded of "Forrest Gump". There's just a lot of the styles and elements of that film from 1994 that I saw here: the friendship as children that grew into love as adults, the main character as a child having trouble walking, the love story that oftentimes couldn't be, the crazy but ultimately likable guy running the ship that the main character works on, etc. I can't believe I haven't already heard more about just how similar these stories are on film.
3) The whole element of Hurricane Katrina. Was it really necessary? Did it add anything to the story? I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who didn't need a reminder of that.
Yeah, all in all, I gave this a "6" but I'm thinking even that's generous...the film was fine, but just too long and too much like another (and better) film that won Oscars 15 years ago. I don't feel this deserves the honor.
UPDATE: Time has passed and with more and more blatant obvious similarities to "Gump" having come into the public eye, this now gets a "2". Next time Eric Roth does a film, I hope someone does some cross-referencing. This film did about as well in the Oscars as it deserved to: 3-for-13 with no major wins.