Hit the Rewind ‘Button’: Agent 5150’s Take on ‘Benjamin’...

As my esteemed colleague Ice Cream Man pointed out in his initial “FV” posting, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is an overlong romance involving a man who is born old and ages in reverse. ICM was also correct in his observation that a decent chunk of this film could have been cut without hurting the narrative flow in the least. However, I will be more kind in my assessment of “Benjamin Button” – its heart is in the right place, and David Fincher still has the magic touch in crafting a visually stunning movie...

(Note: We here at “FV” normally dispense with the usual flick review tricks – if we tell you too much of the plot, we feel that we’re spoiling the experience for you, so we won’t. We’re more concerned with the details...why we liked it or why we didn’t. We’re not ‘Cliffs Notes for Movies’...if you can’t dig that, go check out “Entertainment Weekly” and their myriad ‘Spoiler Alerts’ instead!)

As a few other critics have pointed out, “Benjamin Button” is strikingly similar to “Forrest Gump”. Both films are primarily set around New Orleans and the Deep South. Both films observe American and international history as part of the storyline. Both deal with romances destined to end badly. However, the differences between the two are the differences between an Oscar-winning classic (“Gump”) and an Oscar-nominated near-miss (“BB”). Forrest Gump ducked in and out of historical events as his charmed life unfolded...he WAS history, albeit in the background. Benjamin Button is merely a passive observer. Forrest was a simpleton with good luck. Benjamin is thoughtful and introspective…a genial soul. The lovers in “Gump” are constantly being pulled apart. In “Button”, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are always brought back together by some karmic force. Gump was interesting. Button really isn’t. On the plus side, “Benjamin Button” comes off as more human than “Gump”...emotions and lessons about life are deeper in a film where the primary character seems like he could be a real person (the whole ‘aging backwards’ trick notwithstanding) as opposed to a mythical creature of sorts.

Again, I’ll give “Benjamin Button” a bit more credit than ICM…I’ll go with 3 Eddies. Yes, the whole Tilda Swinton subplot is unnecessary, and using Hurricane Katrina as a narrative tentpole seems a bit callous. However, in this age of creative bankruptcy in Hollywood, a solid rip-off of “Forrest Gump” may actually be worthy of Academy Award consideration...

How tragic is that?