The not-so-curious case of Brad Pitt

Rating: 5/10 (7 August 2009)

The most disappointing movie of the year, according to me, would be this one, mainly because I did find the beginning to be made very nicely and the end too to be told in a wonderful manner. But its the entire journey (especially when Benjamin starts growing younger) that lacks the charm and wonder.
The movie's performances do not enrich the film unfortunately. There are some fine performances by Tilda Swinton and Tajari but the rest of the cast, including the lead pair, is just mediocre. The biggest problem in the movie is Brad Pitt, who remains so shallow that he doesn't even make an effort to dig deep into his character. Just sporting an accent won't do it.
Benjamin's childhood was a wonderful journey and that was when I liked Benjamin, mainly because the computer effects helped Brad. But when the computer effects aren't needed as he is growing younger, Benjamin becomes Brad and this movie becomes bad.
There were many scenes in the movie that I had issues with. For example, when Benjamin has sex with the prostitute, he is shown to be too active and wild in bed, which is annoying since his character was shown to be very different in the beginning. In some of the scenes, he is shown as a fine, responsible man but in the others, he suddenly becomes a playboy.
Plus, he never seems to care for Cate.Cate Blanchett too remains shallow surprisingly. Her character is not written properly as she is given a half-baked role. The chemistry between Cate and Brad looks so superficial that I had to pause the DVD to take a break, since I started to find the story to be fake. However, the chemistry between Brad and Tilda is really good, especially due to the great performance by Tilda.
Its funny that I found the chemistry between the aged Cate and the child Brad to be better than the chemistry between the two when they were in their forties. The whole story reminded me of Forrest Grump, which got 10 stars from me, but the characters were written so well in FG that I found this movie to be rather a rip-off the the movie.
Tajari too does a good job as Brad's adopted mother who treats him like her own son. The thing that was shocking was the Brad did not even shed a tear when she died. In fact, Cate looked more concerned than Brad when Tajari passed away. Characters close to Brad departed yet there was no feeling of sadness at all in Brad.
The man who got struck by lightning 7 times reminded me of a character from Forrest Gump. The whole movie felt too similar to Forrest Gump. The death of the mother, Cate's return after leaving Brad, Cate's attitude towards Brad when she joins the ballet group etc had a strong resemblance with scenes from FG.
The story isn't above ordinary, especially as Brad's life is so normal. The actor didn't even try to explore the character and lives like any normal person. 5 out of 10 for Curious Case of Benjamin Button.