The curious tale of Cate Blanchett. (The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (DVD))

Member Name: Vandersar

Product:	The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (DVD)
Date:	24/08/09 (25 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Romantic and original.

Disadvantages: Too long

Watching Cate Blanchett is like being a front of a pile of unopened presents: you just dont know what you'll get. Brilliant in 'Notes on a Scandal' but pretty rubbish in 'The Missing', I was filled with just a little sense of trepidation before deciding to brave 2 and 1/2 hours of film.

Fortunately this proved to be one of her better outings and although the film starts off a little slowly and maybe drags on a little, it does blossom into a decent heart-wrencher by the end. The basic idea is that Brad Pitt is born an old man/baby/wrinkly thing and, wait for it...., starts to grow younger. During the film, we see him abandoned by his father and brought up in an OAP home before leaving on a series of adventures, having an affair, returning and reconciling with his father and even taking over his .....Button business. A strange storyline yes, but one that is at least unique among the thousands of other clichéd love films. It's also rather entertaining too, if not just for the fact that we get to enjoy an ugly Brad Pitt for at least the first hour before he regains his uncommonly handsome looks. The various residents of the OAP home also give the movie nice moments of charm and humour against the more dark and romantic interplay between the main characters.

In the midst of all this we have the love interest between Pitt and Blanchett which is blowing agonisingly hot and cold before they finally get it together. Unfortunately with Blanchett getting older and Pitt younger, the romance is doomed (sniff, sniff) and the audience is forced to witness its inevitable climax with a sizeable box of tissues on hand.

Overall a good movie but it could have been made a little shorter by removing the idea of the deathbed confession by Blanchett's character which didn't seem to add anything important to the plot.

Summary: A long slog but worth it.