Button,Button, Whose Got the Button?

Rating: 4/10 (10 May 2009)

Like "The Reader",Benjamin is a great disappointment. But,while "The Reader" was entertainingly implausible, this film was just tiresome. For starters how did so many mediocre directors get the idea that if you film something in an amber light it gives a more realistic sense of the past.It doesn't. The second problem noticed was this film often needed subtitles, so many of the speeches were delivered in a mush-mouth fashion. From the beginning, it was riddled with clichés, the angry father, the beyond compassionate black woman,the beyond-wise oldsters, the good-hearted but tough sailor, the cliché cat house. Pitt, usually talented, was wooden. But then the script was solid oak. The only moments worth watching were with Tilda Swinton and even her character had enough sense to pack up and leave.This is one of those films, like "Titanic" where you could spend an entire afternoon commenting on its many flaws, inconsistencies and unintentional laughs. All these film buffs who praise Fincher must be the same people who think that Ronnie Howard is a talented director.Almost every scene is predictable or borrowed from somebody else. The only thing curious about the case of Benjamin Button is why anybody made this saccharine film.