The Age of Adaline was more of a stylistic film of fashion and promise of history than it was a film for the purpose of telling an interesting story.
Somewhere, somehow a cross between The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Time Traveler’s Wife, and About Time came out of Hollywood with a gorgeous cast, but not quite as great of acting.
The information about the details of the storyline of the film came from a narration in a deep voice over cheesy special effects all compounded by unfounded and relatively inexplicable “science.”
Young and beautiful Adaline Bowman, played by Blake Lively, is the only thing that keeps the movie trudging along. After a tragic car accident and a mysteriously sparkly lightening strike, Adaline never ages and lives 60 years as a constant 29-year-old.
But what is any good movie without a few cheesy lines and a bad male actor whose looks are the reason women flocked to the theater? It seems that the previews of Age of Adaline give more credit to the main male character than deserved.
Ellis Jones, played by Michiel Huisman, was the epitome of arm candy. He didn’t serve as an interest in the story but was more of just a vending machine for bad pick-up lines and barely funny jokes.
The two bond over what are assumed to be dates but are, in their entirety, a three-minute clip of the two characters balking over some inconsequential piece of history that has little to no relevance to the storyline.
Ellis is not the tall, dark and handsome man the previews for the film made him out to be but instead is a cheesy, all-over-the-place, over-emotional representation of a man with stalker tendancies.
The biggest turning point of the relatively flashback-style film is when young Ellis takes Adaline home for his parents’ 40th wedding anniversary, and there we have the love triangle that transcends decades and incestuous lines.
The focused character development on Adaline leaves Ellis empty and boring in what is assumed to be emotional points of the film.
Though, the over-sexualized nature of Ellis while he tells an 89-year-old in 29-year-old-body that he’s falling in love with her after only a week doesn’t make the viewer empathize with his seemingly emotional act.
The film promises romances that surpass all limits of time, incomparable women’s style and a deep, life-changing, final romance; the film fails on every front and then some.
If you don’t want to think or have a thought-provoking film experience, Age of Adaline will fulfill exactly that viewer need.