27 out of 28 people found the following review helpful:
*** May contain spoilers ***

Too long with nothing to say (spoilers in 3rd paragraph)
A Customer from Lancashire,
19th February, 2009
Particularly considering the number of positive reviews, you'll see the movie anyway but don't be taken in! It is not as good as the hype would have you believe. Without the gimmick of Brad's character growing younger, this would be a story about two people who drift in and out of each others lives and have a love affair in their forties. In fact, even with the gimmick, that's all it amounts too. That Brad's character is born old and grows young just makes it weird - it doesn't add anything to the narrative (it actually hinders it as I've tried to explain below). Normal people are born, live, fall in (and out of) love and lose loved ones along the way before they die. So does Benjamin. His condition does not give him any unique insight which would make the gimmick worthy. Maybe I'm in a cynical mood but it just seems a means to drum up interest in a conventional, even dull, tale about two people which - the casting of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett notwithstanding - noone would otherwise be particularly interested in seeing. If the producers wanted an effective weepie, they should have heightened the sense of heartache that Benjamin and Daisy supposedly have to suffer. The gimmick actually makes it difficult for the producers to convey that these are soulmates dealt a cruel blow by a quirk of nature. For the sake of taste, they couldn't be together when the physical age gap was decades (and - big problem - why would a girl be attracted to an apparent 70+ year old even if it is Brad Pitt?? We have to take it on faith that there is some mystic connection). They have, then, only about 15ish years in which to conduct a normal relationship. They spend the vast majority of their lives apart and having love affairs with others so the fact that they're supposed to be soulmates does not ring true. Okay, it's sad that they can't be together as Benjamin gets younger but it's not like they couldn't have forseen what was going to happen so why have the baby? The film just doesn't have anything to say in it's overlong 2.5 hours and in an attempt to make up for it, it finshes off with some weak guff about people being what they are. Yeah, so what? Every character in every film - in fact every person in the world - is what they are. There are better life affirming and/ or weepie films out there - when you've seen this one, don't say I didn't warn you...
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