Movie review | ‘Age of Adaline’ lives for way too long
‘Age of Adaline’ **1/2
In yet another semi-supernatural romance drama, Adaline, played by Blake Lively, is struck with a rare condition, a gift some might say, that turns out to be a curse.
She’s forever stuck at a stunningly beautiful 29 years of age, so at 104, she is still a beauty queen while others around her age and eventually die, in sort of a reverse “Benjamin Button”-esque tale.
Do you feel sorry for her? Only a little? Have I told you too much? The theatrical trailers give more than that away, and the annoying narrator, with odd vocal inflections, can’t keep his mouth shut, over explaining what is quite obvious.
He gets really annoying when he offers preposterous and unnecessary scientific gobbledy-gook attempting to describe her condition. The interesting premise almost falls as flat as Lively’s performance. She’s probably a fine actor, but perhaps miscast? Or badly directed? Either way, she acts as if she’s about to fall asleep in almost every frame, regardless of what’s going on around her.
Harrison Ford plays his supporting role well, as do Ellen Burstyn, Kathy Baker, and Adaline’s modern-day love interest, played by newcomer Michiel Huisman.
The occasional flashbacks, as seen through Adaine’s memories, offer a nice contrast that help give the story some teeth. But will the clever storyline and strong performances by everyone except the lead, be enough for moviegoers? Only time will tell.
What do those stars mean?
* Really, really, really bad. Don’t bother.
** Pretty bad, with one or more redeeming scenes.
*** Pretty good, but maybe not great, worth seeing for most
**** A winning combination of story, casting, and directing
***** The rarest gem, an all-around perfect motion picture
This story was originally published May 12, 2015 at 4:20 AM with the headline "Movie review | ‘Age of Adaline’ lives for way too long."