The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

written by: Eric Roth (based of the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story)
directed by: David Fincher

I will try not to be biased seeing as i absolutely love Brad Pitt. ok here goes.

Somewhere as a kid you might have heard the story of Benjamin Button. He for some reason ages backwards when everyone else goes the regular way. Got that? Good.

The movie starts in New Orleans in the late summer of 2005. A terrible storm is coming and an old woman in a hospital bed asks her daughter to read to her this journal that was in her suitcase. It tells the story of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt). He was abandoned on the doorsteps of an old folks home in 1918 because he was a wrinkly deformed looking baby riddled with cataracs and arthritis. There he was raised by Queenie (Taraji Henson), the black woman who ran the place. She cared for Benjamin because she didn't think he had long left on the earth and all of God's creatures deserve to be given a chance right? Right.

Benjamin grows up surrounded by the old, but that is no problem because he fits right in. At 7 he is still in a wheelchair but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a seven year olds curiosity. Eventually he gets bigger and a cane replaces his wheelchair. Queenie can't explain what's going on with Benjamin but she's plenty happy to have him around. The old people teach him about life and how to play the piano and he meets a little girl named Daisy (eventually played by Cate Blanchett) who is one of the residents' granddaughters. Daisy senses that Benjamin is a lot different than he seems and they become fast friends.

Daisy continues to visit and notices the changes in Benjamin. He walks a little better every time. Has a little more hair. He even goes off and fights in WWII all the while traveling the globe and sending Daisy postcards of his travels.

We eventually find out that the old woman in the bed is an old Daisy. Her daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond) becomes more and more intrigued in Benjamin's story. She also learns a lot that she didnt know about her mother.

At first I was kinda worried because Tim Burton wasn't directing this movie. I mean Tim Burton! come on, but David Fincher and Brad Pitt go way back (see: Seven, Fight Club) so I knew David would do a good job. My expectations were greatly exceeded.

First off I was worried that with it being set in New Orleans, everyone would have this horrible southern accents. As any Southerner knows, we all sound different, and nobody bothers to notify Hollywood of this fact. But they all sounded right!

And I dont know or care how they did it, but from the start you can tell that little Benjamin is Brad Pitt. Its the eyes. They never change. Pay attention. The makeup and CGI are flawless. And not even for Benjamin, for Daisy too. When Daisy is 20 she looks 20. Cate Blanchett aint 20!

And I knew that the movie was going to be lengthy but I didn't know 2:47 was the runtime until right before the movie started. I couldnt feel it! I was so drawn into the characters. Benjamin is a quiet, reserved character but that does not make him stupid. He doesn't say much but its because he was observing everything around him and made great deatils in his notes that Caroline is reading to her mother.

I'm not quite sure the significance of them making Caroline and Daisy talk about the journal during Katrina so that was my only beef with the movie. Other than that I wanna see it again, even though I was crying like a lil bitch. Go see it. The 3 hours is worth it.