The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - B+

If Miami Vice is the movie I couldn’t stop watching last summer, then Zodiac is the film I kept watching last fall. David Fincher’s outstanding camera angles, pacing, and editing are matched by the perfect fusion of the police procedural, serial killer, and newspaper-reporter genres. It’s also the best film about obsession since Vertigo. But Zodiac was a box office disappointment, and with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Lawyer's month-old review here), Fincher seems desperate for a hit, both pandering to the audience and unsure of himself for the first time. You can almost see studio executives letting him know that A) Eric Roth won an Oscar for writing Forrest Gump, B) Forrest Gump made 10 times what Zodiac made (not even factoring in inflation), and C) You haven’t had a runaway hit since Se7en. But I can’t think of sensibilities in bigger conflict than Fincher directing an Eric Roth script.

In retrospect, Robert Zemeckis meshes great with Roth’s nostalgic, sentimental tastes. Before Forrest Gump, Zemeckis had already made nostalgic Americana films about the 1950s (Back to the Future), the 1980s (Back to the Future Part 2), and the American West (Back to the Future Part 3). He also has made a film that celebrates the history American cartoons (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?). Fincher has only made one period film, Zodiac, which is much more technical and objective than anything Zemeckis has ever done. Zodiac thinks rather than feels, like All the President’s Men rather than Rocky.

In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fincher packs the film with undeniably beautiful images: sunrises, night-time battles, midnight dances, and ships at sea. The cinematography, editing, and use of film stock changes are top-notch. The special effects are both stunning and often barely unnoticeable. But this doesn’t ever feel like a David Fincher film. The audience I was with loved the jokes about promiscuity and drunkenness as well as the lightning strikes. But I can’t think of one “cheap” laugh in any other Fincher film. The sentimentality is also new territory for Fincher, but he handles this as well as he can (they should have saved some digital money and left out Roth’s hummingbird). The tale of a man aging in reverse who stays in love with the same person as she ages normally throughout their lives affected me more than I expected. I feel that the older a person is, the more they’ll appreciate the themes of the film (being a parent helps, too).The film begins in a hospital room with Daisy (Cate Blanchett) on her deathbed with her daughter (Julia Ormond) nearby. The story of Benjamin (Brad Pitt) and Daisy will be told by Ormond as she reads Benjamin’s diary. This framing device is forced but not disastrous as is the unnecessary and ridiculous inclusion of Hurricane Katrina. In Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks’s narration felt alive and energetic as he actively told his life story to other people. Indeed, unlike Benjamin, Forrest actively participated in life. When Gump’s platoon is under attack, he saves each member by running them to safety. When Benjamin Button’s boat is attacked, he crouches in fear until someone else takes care of it. Forrest punches out many people who may harm Jenny while Benjamin passively accepts Daisy's whimsical desires. Forrest runs across America while Benjamin stays at the old folks home. Etc. Benjamin is too passive to even tell his own story.

I thought the acting of Ormond, Blanchett, and Tilda Swinton were realistic and touching. And while not as flashy as David Mills or Tyler Durden, this Fincher-directed Brad Pitt performance is more challenging and more accomplished. At one point, Button says, “Your life is defined by opportunities, even the ones you miss.” In the final analysis, this is one missed opportunity of a film. Great casting, great performances and perfect direction are hampered by a hokey, familiar plot and a tired framing device. B+