Reviewed by Richard Lee Zuras

Released Dec. 25, 2008

2 hr. 41 min.

PG-13

David Fincher/Paramount&WB

Brad Pitt

Cate Blanchett

Tilda Swinton

Taraji P. Henson

Julia Ormond

Who would ever have thought that a short story F. Scott Fitzgerald’s agent had trouble selling would one day become a thirteen time oscar nominated $150,000,000 budget blockbuster?

Perhaps the question should be: For those who have read Fitzgerald’s story…did you think the slight, comic story could stretch into one of the longest films in the history of cinema?

Or: If you had $150,000,000 to spend, would you lose sight of the heart of the film as its special effects ran away with themselves?

Perhaps the question might be: If a story kicked around in Hollywood for over a decade and a half–with people like Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg, Spike Jonze, John Travolta, Charlie Kaufman, and Ron Howard attached–do you think there’s a reason it had never been made?

The answer to the last question is yes, yes, yes. Was it not made because the special effects technology had yet to reach the necessary pinnacle? Was it not made because it would never turn a U.S. profit even if every critic fell to its wondrous techno-effects? Did everyone pass on it because no screenplay was able to capture/create any emotion?

The original short story, you see, is very sketchy. And sketchy for a reason. Here are a couple of purposefully sketchy lines (paraphrased) from Fitzgerald’s story:

1) Is he (Ben Button) the wandering Jew?

2) I (narrator) am not going to talk about the missing years of Ben Button’s life from the ages of 12 to 21.

Seem like the literary master was making us contemplate something here?

The film? Nada. The adapted screenplay completely missed it.

As I watched the film I couldn’t help noticing the incredible similarities between Ben’s narrative style and inflections and his utmost, removed nature. As the credits rolled–there it was: Eric Roth. A great screenwriter. One of the best. But this film’s lead should not be channeling its inner Forrest Gump.

The biggest problem remains its length. This film has to cover a lot of time and unlike literature, the phenomenon of exposition is not available. The film’s cast list reads like a stimulus bill. Perhaps that was the point. There’s a belief these days that if a film is sweepingly long it need be nominated for every possible award.

Opus? no…Great effects? Sure. Good idea to reward a film’s effects over its heart? no. Great makeup? Absolutely. And one last thing…and a bit of a spoiler…

No one wants to see a beautiful, newborn baby close its eyes, and die. Even if it has lived out its days…

Slumdog Millionaire and Milk are the front-runners for best picture. Maybe heart does win out after all.

bottom line: 3.5/5.0