Movie Date: The Age Of Adaline
Let’s just say this fantastical love story isn’t one for the ages
STARRING: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford, Kathy Baker, Ellen Burstyn
DIRECTOR: Lee Toland Krieger
THE SKINNY: Having miraculously remained 29 years old for almost eight decades after a freak car accident and lightning strike, Adaline Bowman (Lively), born in 1908, has lived a solitary existence, never allowing herself to get close to anyone lest her immortality is revealed. However, a chance encounter with charismatic philanthropist Ellis Jones (Huisman) reignites her passion for life and romance.
RATING: PG
THE CONSENSUS: Let’s just say this fantastical love story isn’t one for the ages
MARS
The movie and its main character both suffer from a terrible lack of imagination.
Here is a lady who never ages, and yet she squanders her gift by living an anonymous, pusillanimous existence.
I guess this is the point of the whole thing, that she's sort of got to learn to live again.
We're used to immortal creatures like vampires and elves, who live colourful lives full of adventure and romance.
The thinking here must have been, what if we flip the script by telling a story about a truly boring immortal who doesn't drink blood or kill orcs, but instead just kind of mills around.
Once the romance kicks in, things don't get any more interesting, as the guy is almost as boring as she is.
A wealthy math-genius philanthropist? How much more gratingly earnest could they possibly be?
Then comes the big twist with Ford's character, and we get completely sidetracked into a completely different but equally dull story.
The whole situation with him is also completely implausible, to the point that you just kind of check out mentally and emotionally. It's one big "yeah, right".
There are so many interesting stories you could tell about an immortal, and so many have been told already.
Such a waste of the heroine's time, and ours. - JASON JOHNSON
Rating: 2/5
VENUS
Prior to The Age Of Adaline, I had no idea who Blake Lively was.
I didn't catch a single episode of teen TV drama Gossip Girl, which single-handedly rocketed the blonde beauty to stardom. I even had to Google to find out she is Mrs Ryan Reynolds. And the celebrity couple have a baby daughter together. It was a painful way to find out I had been living under a rock.
That said, Lively is, without a doubt, the best thing in The Age Of Adaline.
Looking radiant and ravishing in every scene, her natural performance makes this otherwise bland, boring film somewhat tolerable.
I'm pretty sure she's going to win herself lots of new fans with her first lead movie role.
Where Lively is illuminating, the rest of her starring vehicle is mired in dullness.
Best described as a schmaltzy B-grade version of David Fincher's The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, the film attempts to explore serious themes such as mortality and love, but doesn't go deep enough - be it through the storytelling or dialogue - to make audiences care for its myriad characters.
What I dislike most about it is how awful and horrifying the script paints the whole idea of immortality.
As unimpressive as The Twilight Saga was, at least it made vampirism cool. - TAN KEE YUN
Rating: 2/5
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