An uneven, ambitious epic tale

Rating: 6/10 (8 July 2009)

David Fincher's well made film, adapted from a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald of the same name, deals with a fascinating premise what would life be like if lived in reverse? The film begins in 2005 in New Orleans, a dying old women named Daisy (Cate Blanchett) is on her deathbed with her daughter by her side. Hurricane Katrina is approaching. While by her side her daughter decides to read her a diary about Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt). He tells his story about how he was born an old man in New Orleans. His father thinking that the child was ill leaves him on the doorstep of a retirement home where he is taken in by a black woman in a breakout performance for Taraji P. Henson. While at this retirement home he meets Daisy and falls in love with her. However because of his condition there is no way they can have a normal relationship until the middle of their lives. When he gets younger he decides to travel the world and ends up in a steamboat during World War II and has an affair with an Englishwoman (Tilda Swinton).
Once he gets back from World War II is the point where this movie starts to go downhill. We never really get inside Benjamin's head. We just watch as he gets with Daisy dumps her after they have a kid and watch him get younger and younger. The movie jumps into all sorts of random episodes and there is no real thematic unity. It feels like Fincher was trying to say something really deep about life but screenwriter Eric Roth's script doesn't have that. Instead the script is basically a rewrite of Forrest Gump except instead of living an extraordinary life Benjamin lives a rather ordinary life. It's a shame because this cast and crew do a pretty great job with the parts they were given they just can't find anyway to lift this story out of its clichés. It just comes off as an entertaining gimmick, it never overstays its nearly 3 hour running time, with nice cinematography, art direction, and special effects which are among the best I have seen I might add. Overall this is an entertaining movie but it lacks the sort of punch someone expects from a movie dealing with life. Whereas a film like Synecdoche, New York leaves us thinking about our lives and the people in them in different ways a film like Benjamin Button throws us in all sorts of directions that we don't really know what to think.