Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Before I start, there are no spoilers in here so feel free to read on.

I had the opportunity to see a screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button about two weeks ago and because the guys who run the screenings are absolute psychos, I haven’t been able to talk about it until now.

I got a chance to see the movie for a second time last night and still I can only say nothing but incredible things about it. First, David Fincher, the director, doesn’t do short movies (Fight Club, Zodiac). Benjamin Button is close to three hours and feels every bit as long but it’s an extremely enjoyable three hours as there’s no short way to tell Button’s story.

The film doesn’t follow the short story very much. The F. Scott Fitzgerald piece is set in Baltimore and Benjamin is largely involved the aristocracy of the city, in the film however he grows up in New Orleans mothered by a black woman who runs an old folks home. Fincher and Eric Roth (the writer of the screenplay and script) managed to turn paragraphs of the short story into thirty minute sections of the movie, all brilliantly done.

The humor is dry and the plot feels similar to a combination of Forrest Gump and The Notebook. This is largely do to Roth writing both Button and Gump.

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett both deliver well and the score is stellar. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will be cleaning up at next year’s Oscars, as it shoud.

Again, I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. It’s incredible and possibly the best movie of 2008.