Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The (2008) Rank 3 Reviews

Apollo Guide

I've spent a few moments over recent years perusing internet dating web sites, and one of the most common refrains from women who advertise themselves there is a desire to not talk about the meaning of life. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Apollo Guide

Los Angeles CityBeat (Andy Klein)

Despite its length and expansive pace, it's never dull. And, despite the dubiousness of its stabs at being "meaningful," it still leaves you with more than most mega-productions. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Los Angeles CityBeat (Andy Klein)

Las Vegas Weekly (Josh Bell)

It's a testament to Fincher's craftsmanship that even such a bleak message can evoke feelings of hope and wonder. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Las Vegas Weekly (Josh Bell)

ReelTalk Movie Reviews (John P. McCarthy)

That this movie doesn't seem fantastic at all is a testimony to its emotional power. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at ReelTalk Movie Reviews (John P. McCarthy)

EricDSnider.com (Eric D. Snider)

It tells a grand, eloquent tale full of romance and melancholy. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at EricDSnider.com (Eric D. Snider)

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Philip Martin)

Long anticipated, handsomely mounted and technically accomplished, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button proves that it requires more than care and talent to make a genuinely good movie - you need some ineffable quality like luck or grace. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Philip Martin)

Fresno Bee (Donald Munro)

"Benjamin Button" is strong because it connects with the human desire to transcend the inevitable constraints of time. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Fresno Bee (Donald Munro)

Watertown Daily Times (Adam Tobias)

But I should warn you it takes almost three hours for Fincher to show you all of the things that happened to Benjamin during his existence. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Watertown Daily Times (Adam Tobias)

Oregonian (Shawn Levy)

It's long, like life, but like life it continually fascinates. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Oregonian (Shawn Levy)

HollywoodChicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

Still, she thought Fincher wouldn't take her seriously, and even if he did, the studio certainly wouldn't and would want a "bigger star". ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at HollywoodChicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

Boxoffice Magazine

Benjamin is just too accepting of his life for the audience to respond to him with overwhelming reserves of empathy. But maybe that is the point. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Boxoffice Magazine

Beliefnet (Nell Minow)

Brad Pitt is a very fine actor but in this epic fantasy his diligent and thoughtful performance contributes less to the film than his appearance, about two-thirds of the way through. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Beliefnet (Nell Minow)

Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)

Whatever the movie's concerns are, Fincher mainly succeeds in making Benjamin Button charming, a ride as gentle and whimsical as its protagonist, a technical triumph backing, yes, a curious narrative. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)

Cinematical (James Rocchi)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button isn't about a man who lives backwards or a woman who lives forwards ... Get past the plot, the pitch, and the technique, and you can see it as a reminder that all we can do is live now. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Cinematical (James Rocchi)

San Francisco Examiner (Rossiter Drake)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald's farcical retort to the notion, espoused by Mark Twain, that the best things in life happen at the beginning and the worst at the end, demands a generous leap of the imagination. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at San Francisco Examiner (Rossiter Drake)

Sacramento Bee (Carla Meyer)

This recognition comes even though Pitt, given the difficult task of crafting a character mostly through narration (the film unfolds as passages read from Benjamin's diary) and/or in tandem with heavy makeup and special effects, has breathed considerable ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Sacramento Bee (Carla Meyer)

jsonline.com

And so it is with "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Movie star Brad Pitt, author F. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at jsonline.com

The Globe and Mail

Benjamin Button feels both fastidious and rambling. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at The Globe and Mail

Chicago Tribune (Michael Phillips)

It's also a little chilly. This tall tale of a man aging in reverse while bobbing, serenely, on life's unpredictable seas doesn't go for the throat emotionally. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Chicago Tribune (Michael Phillips)

Kansas City Star

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is imaginative, evocative, long on craftsmanship but way too long. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Kansas City Star

Star Tribune

Fincher nimbly matches the look and the era, even mimicking herky-jerky silent films with a running gag about a human lightning rod. Benjamin is aware that his odd gift is also a curse. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Star Tribune

Philadelphia Daily News

IN OUR Viagra/Botox world, there may be nothing so subversive as the message in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button": what a drag it is getting younger. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Philadelphia Daily News

St. Paul Pioneer Press

It's a beautiful movie, with memorable colors and images accompanied by a gorgeous Alexandre Desplat score. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at St. Paul Pioneer Press

USA TODAY

Though it doesn't always work as a parable about life, Button is never dull, and the conclusion is graceful and poignant. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at USA TODAY

Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)

Fitzgerald's Button was born during the first year of the Civil War and sank into babyhood at the end of the Jazz Age. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)

Varigate (Jules Brenner)

A final analysis brings me also to the feeling that its impressiveness consists more of admiration than emotional response, and that the melancholy that it did impress on me by a life realized in backward progression is brought about by a novel theoretic ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Varigate (Jules Brenner)

Slant Magazine (Nick Schager)

Benjamin's very blankness gives the film a beguiling measure of dreamy, fabulistic wonder, one that entrances even as Roth's script regularly missteps. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Slant Magazine (Nick Schager)

CompuServe (Harvey Karten)

In short, not the masterpiece that some critics will label it, but still a respectful epic story that should attract an intelligent audience on Christmas Day and thereafter. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at CompuServe (Harvey Karten)

Philadelphia Inquirer

In fact, for all its hokey American charm, its grand scale, and sense of history, the same can be said for the film itself - eye-catching, clever, but lacking any real passion. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Philadelphia Inquirer

Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)

What Button shows is that Ben is ultimately not the hero of his own life or his own movie. He gets inside our head, that's for sure, but, frustratingly, we never get inside his. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)

Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button reminds us that the best thing we can do is make the most of our journey and be thankful for the people we meet along the way. It's all gift. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)

Windy City Times (Richard Knight)

Overall, the film seems more like a beautiful curio than anything else, a sort of artsy fartsy Forest Gump with the love affair played out against the great events of the 20th century (this is not unexpected as both scripts were penned by Eric Roth, this ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Windy City Times (Richard Knight)

Newsweek (David Ansen)

Lyrical, original, misshapen and deeply felt, this is one flawed beauty of a movie. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Newsweek (David Ansen)

Compuserve (Harvey S. Karten)

Overlong, but any film that can make Brad Pitt look homely deserves to sweep the special effects awards. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Compuserve (Harvey S. Karten)

CHUD.com

Benjamin Button may be the most passive titular character in a motion picture until The Terri Schiavo Story gets off the ground. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at CHUD.com

Shadows on the Wall [Rich Cline]

Along the way, the fantastical storyline gives Roth and Fincher plenty to play with, looking at powerful issues in an offbeat way. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Shadows on the Wall [Rich Cline]

AZCentral.com

Button doesn't quite add up to a fully satisfying whole. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at AZCentral.com

Modern Fabulousity

The most important word in the title of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is "curious. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Modern Fabulousity

Mountain Xpress (Ken Hanke)

While I would recommend David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as worth-seeing, I simply cannot work up any great love for it. More curious than the case of Benjamin Button is the detached feeling of the movie. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Mountain Xpress (Ken Hanke)

The Scorecard Review (Jeff Bayer)

It's a dramatic fairy tale and in the beginning we get some nice humor from the old people in the house, that Queenie cares for. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at The Scorecard Review (Jeff Bayer)

Cinema Blend

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button takes nearly three hours to unfold and every bit of it is depressing. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Cinema Blend

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

It will be viewed and valued decades from now. You mark my words. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Newsweek (Alonso Duralde)

A Southern naÃ¯f meanders through a bizarre and unusual life story, one that includes encounters with legendary figures, a childhood sweetheart who sees the world but then returns home to bear him a child out of wedlock, a free-floating metaphor about the ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Newsweek (Alonso Duralde)

Detroit News

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is one of those grand cinematic experiments that start out strong and then wander astray. Curious, yes. Successful? Not quite. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Detroit News

Film Threat (Pete Vonder Haar)

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is very loosely based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, emphasis on "short." It takes about 10 minutes to read the thing, leaving plenty of free space in the movie for Roth to sow his platitudes. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Film Threat (Pete Vonder Haar)

Washington City Paper

There's something creepy about seeing an elderly man huddle beneath a candlelit tablecloth tent with a little girl-even if you know that the tiny geezer is actually no older than she. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Washington City Paper

Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)

Screenwriter Eric Roth adapts F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story and somehow manages to inflate it into a nearly three-hour film. Brad Pitt stars as the title character, a poor soul who is born into a 70 year-old body and ages backwards. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)

Sacramento News & Review (Jonathan Kiefer)

The movie version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story (about a man who is born old and ages backward) favors a broader, more romantic and melancholic rumination on fate and mortality than the print version. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Sacramento News & Review (Jonathan Kiefer)

culturevulture.net

By having to move through life backwards, Benjamin Button is forced to spend his own life perennially starting over. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at culturevulture.net

LA.com

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is designed to evoke cozy, if melancholy, feelings about life, love and the passage of time. I found its state-of-the-art technical aspects more engaging. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at LA.com

Big Picture Big Sound (Joe Lozito)

Happily, there is plenty going on around Benjamin to look at - if not entirely keep you still for three hours. Aside from the brilliant work realizing the reverse-aging process, there is also some fantastic age makeup on Ms. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Big Picture Big Sound (Joe Lozito)

Flipside Movie Emporium (Rob Vaux)

And Benjamin Button takes far, far too long to tell his story. Caught up the fairy dust, Fincher draws each episode out like a razor blade, extending the running time to tickle three hours. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Flipside Movie Emporium (Rob Vaux)

Boston Globe

"Benjamin Button" is several hours of meticulous peeling - but not of a grapefruit but a grape. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Boston Globe

Deseret News, Salt Lake City (Jeff Vice)

Still, once his character is finally "grown up," the movie finds its legs. The scenes with Pitt and Blanchett together are the best of the film, and the performers do what they can to make us swallow some of the more contrived plotting bits. ...read the complete Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie review at Deseret News, Salt Lake City (Jeff Vice)

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