Although ‘Benjamin Button’ managed to rake in 13 Oscar nods (second best in the history of the awards), its parts are all too familiar. An ordinary life under extraordinary circumstances? Persisting childhood romance in wartime tragedy? Apparently, Eric Roth was feeling uninspired, dug up his precious muse from 1994 and switched up the names ‘mdash; Forrest Gump, meet Ben Button.
Button’s wheelchair and walking canes fill in for Forrest’s leg braces; Daisy is replaced by Jenny (though the under-the-sheets smooching feels a lot creepier in an old-folks home than it did on the branches of a willow tree); the impersonal Captain Mike assumes the role of endearing Lt. Dan and the shrimp boat gets traded in for a tugboat. There’s even a hummingbird in place of the opener’s floating feather. Double yawn.
Not quite living up to Forrest’s endearing ‘Life is like a box of chocolates’, Button’s pithy, ambivalent one-liners’ ‘ leave us lukewarm, and his hospital room is stuffier than that famous bus-stop bench. Clearly, the film falls short of its prototype ‘mdash; and watching five different period pieces jammed into one is just plain obnoxious, even if Brad Pitt looks hot driving a motorcycle. Word to the wise Mr.’ Roth: Even if you manage to snag the hottest heartthrob alive, there’s no guarantee he’ll bring along the heart.