John’s Movie Musings

Ever have a movie make you angry?  Sometimes, that’s the appropriate response because that’s what the director intended.  Movies are meant to draw out our emotions.  That’s why we like ‘em.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button made me angry.  But I don’t think the director intended it.  I was angry because the movie offers a very self-centered look at humanity with no consequences.  I felt I had to accept his self-serving characters as doing the right thing, when they very obviously were not.

Let me back up.  As you know, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is about a man who ages backwards.  It’s an interesting story – almost Gump-ish in its pacing.  The characters are flawed and interesting, but the real treat is the special effects.  The technology used to age Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett is superb.  The movie is almost worth seeing just for that.  But since it’ll piss you off, I would stay away.

Let me explain my beef with this film as spoiler-free as possible.  Every character (and I mean all of them) intentionally hurts the people close to them out of “love.”    I put love in quotes because saying things like, “You would be better without me” is not love.  It’s control – the complete opposite of love.  This is what suicide victims use to justify their deaths.

Now it’s completely fine to have characters act this way.  In fact, it’s a good flaw to explore.  But here, the director forces this down your throat and wants you to accept it as true love.  Now maybe I’ve got some deep abandonment issues that decide to board the bandwagon at times like this, but to sit through three hours of people behaving this way without consequence (or worse, having it accepted as right) is like Chinese Water Torture.  Every beat motivating a fantasy of punching the director in the face.  Yes, I know he probably needs a hug, but he needs an ass-whoopin, too.

Basically, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a love story without love.  For that, I can only recommend you stay away.

Grade: D