Pitt, Blanchett sew a beautiful 'Button'
The story of Benjamin Button, a man who spends the 20th Century aging in reverse, is curious indeed:
A human drama on an epic scale, it swings for an emotional knockout but never lands a big punch.
It's infused with sentimentality and humor by director David Fincher, whose resume includes dark, heady fare like "Seven" and "Fight Club."
And most curious of all, its title character spends 167 minutes telling us his life story, but we still feel detached from him when the credits roll.
But lest you think presumptive Oscar nominee "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is an over-hyped bust, consider the undeniable talents at work, beginning with its magnetic stars.
When 6-year-old Daisy (played as an adult by Cate Blanchett) first meets Benjamin (Brad Pitt) in 1920s New Orleans, he stands about 4 feet tall, can barely walk and looks to be about 85 years old - but Benjamin only has a few years on his red-haired friend. His father (Jason Flemyng) left him on the steps of a boardinghouse soon after his wrinkled body emerged from the womb, and house matron Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) decided to raise him as her own.
Pitt, with the help of truly astonishing makeup and digital animation, is fascinating to watch in Benjamin's strange formative years. We see an old man's face, but the eyes and the voice have the innocence of a child. This leads to a magical early scene in which Benjamin first learns to walk with the help of a tent-revival preacher, who asks the "old man" just how old he is.
"I'm 7," he says.
And so Benjamin grows up and gets younger, a fact which is never regarded by the movie as much more than a - well, curiosity. If you're wondering how a 16-year-old who looks 70 answers questions at the DMV, the film (thankfully) doesn't provide the answer. Benjamin just is, and who are we to question it?
After he travels the world and learns about romance from an aging swimmer (Tilda Swinton), Benjamin and Daisy - by then a world-famous dancer - meet again when each is the appropriate age for the other. Here we get glimpses of a potentially legendary screen romance.
Let's face it: Pitt and Blanchett are two of the most beautiful human beings alive, and watching them dance and swoon makes us want to do the same. This is the duo's second film together after playing the frazzled couple in "Babel," and let us all hope it won't be the last.
But "Benjamin Button" often fails to connect emotionally, partly because of its clumsy framing device: Daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond) reads Benjamin's diary aloud to the ancient Daisy, dying in a hospital bed as Hurricane Katrina rattles the windows outside. (Griffin Mill would pitch it as "Titanic" meets "Big Fish.") The extra layer of storytelling seems to exist merely so the film doesn't suffer from Dead Narrator Syndrome, and adds little.
If you strip away the huge expectations the film has been burdened with, you are left with a beautifully made, often beautifully told fairy tale, powered by two of the brightest stars you could ever hope to see. And that's always a nice present to find under the tree.
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Three stars
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton, Julia Ormond
Directed by: David Fincher
Other: A Paramount Pictures release. Rated PG-13 for violence, language, sexual situations, smoking. 167 minutes