“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button” is a “curious” film in the way it decides to take such an enriching story and a wonderful premise and do nothing but make a near waste of time. I say “near” because the film is beautiful and occasionally gripping.Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) is an odd child, born old and aging younger. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the story after reading MarkTwain’s remark of how it is a pity that the best part of life was in the beginning and the worst at the end.
Fitzgerald’s short story isn’t as elaborate as Eric Roth’s script, nor should it be. Eric Roth added another layer to the story by having someone who shares a large part of Benjamin’s life die as an old woman. Her daughter reads Benjamin’s diary to her, and we are thrown into the story with a Forrest Gump-ish narration from old Benjamin.
“My name is Benjamin Button, and I was born under unusual circumstances. While, everyone else was agin’, I was gettin’ younger…all alone.”
Really? Enlighten us some more, please?
As if Roth’s attempt at “Gumping” up Fitzgerald’s already wonderful story wasn’t seen enough through a naive narration by an eccentric person who lived a long, eventful life. We are given a character by the name of Captain Mike (played well by Jared Harris), whose character resembles that of a Lt. Dan (Gary Sinise) in “Forrest Gump.” Tie this in with the lead character’s infatuation with his mama and extraneous details to add some whimsy to the story (here it’s a hummingbird in the middle of the ocean; in Gump it’s a feather).
This film works as if Eric Roth read Fitzgerald’s story and said, “We’ve got something here but not enough for a full length film.” Amidst all the hustle and bustle of writing a screenplay, he must have thought to himself, “What’s the one film everyone remembers me from? Ah Ha! ‘Forrest Gump’! Well, it’s been 14 years. Here’s to hoping they don’t have good memories.”
Let’s not forget the women. Yes, Benjamin Button, despite his oddity, has himself a few women, as does Mr. Gump. But there is always that one woman. Jenny, I mean Daisy (Cate Blanchett) is just that woman. Of course, fate forces them together in that funny way that fate works, leaving someone unable to fulfill his or her life’s dream just so the other person will get his or hers.
I’m not saying Eric Roth is incompetent. This film isn’t bad. Actually, it’s quite good. David Fincher (the film’s director, still wrenching over his Oscar snub for “Zodiac”) really brings it here with beautiful shot compositions and wonderful acting. It’s a pity he couldn’t have seen through a lot of Roth’s grievances and allowed Fitzgerald’s parable to shine through.
There really are moments of sheer brilliance though. My favorite scene of the film has to do with Benjamin Button as a baby, and it’s truly transcendent in so many ways that I would like to see the film again, if only for that short scene. The film really ties itself together kind of well, in the midst of all its messiness. There are even some nice short films thrown into this rather un-short film (almost three hours, not as bad a thing as some think it is).
One involves a clock that ticks backwards, and wouldn’t you know it, Eric Roth has to throw in a real life president just for kicks (also seen in “Gump”). This short scene is actually quite moving, but this film doesn’t need it. Nor does it need any of the book ends with the older woman and her daughter reading the diary. I’ll let you figure out who they are in the context of the film.
That’s really what “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button” becomes. A string of wonderful scenes tied together by needless story devices that one might see in an amateur’s screenplay when they are trying to get a grasp of different writing techniques. Ultimately the string grows weak and almost snaps.
If it were not for its source material, there’s no telling where this thing would have taken us.