The Age of Adaline (2015) Blu-ray + Digital HD
The Age of Adaline (2015) Movie Review:
"The Age of Adaline" (2015 release; 112 min.) brings the story of Adaline Bowman (played by Blake Lively). As the movie opens, we are told it is "San Francisco, December 31, 2014" and we see Adaline buying several falsified passports and ID documents. It isn't long before the movie flashes back in time and the voice-over explains that Adaline was born on January 1, 1908, but as the result of a freak accident in 1937, Adaline's body has stopped aging. Later on that New Year's Eve, Adaline meets Ellis Jones (played by Michiel Huisman), an impossibly nice (and rich) philanthropist. Along the way, we also get to know Adaline's daughter, who is now an old lady (played by Ellen Burstyn), who is the only person in the world who knows Adalin's secret. Or is she? And what will become of the spark between Adaline and Ellis? To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: first, this is a rom-com with a sci-fi twist, namely the 29 yr. old woman who does not age. I loved the opening 15-20 min. of the movie, where we see in flashbacks over the years how Adaline lived through the 30s, 40s, and subsequent decades (that entire sequence reminded me a bit of Woody Allen's "Zelig", where Woody shows up in all kinds of famous scenes of history). The 'freak accident' that causes Adaline to stop aging is something you have to simply take at face value and accept, otherwise there is no point in watching. Unfortunately, after that, the movie becomes a fairly straight forward rom-com and, pleasant as it is, to me it feels like a bit of a lost opportunity. Yes, there are some hints as to the utter loneliness of Adaline (she has no friends to speak of), and yes, there are a couple of interesting scenes between 29 yr. old Adaline and her very old daughter, but the movie does not pursue these psychological angles deep enough for me. By the time the Big Twist comes deep into the movie (no worries, I won't spoil), it made things only worse for me as it seemed completely implausible, just like the 'freak accident' but this time I couldn't get over it. Still, I rate the movie 3.5 stars for several reasons: the lead performances are all good (besides Lively and Huisman, the latter being his first lead role in a US film, there is also Harrison Ford, as Ellis' dad); the movie's photography is tops--check out the visual eye-candy that is the San Francisco city scenery); and I really enjoyed the orchestral score, composed by Rob Simonsen). In the end, the movie flashed by in seemingly no time.
This movie has done rather well at the US box office, a bit to my surprise since this has gotten virtually no marketing support. The early evening screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati last month was not well attended (and I'm being mild), but then again I saw it on a week night. If you are in the mood for a pleasant, if non-challenging, rom-com with a sci-fi twist, this movie should satisfy you. If you have the opportunity to check out "The Age of Adaline", be it in the theater, on Amazon Instant Video, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, I'd encourage you to do so and draw your own conclusions.
