The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Stars	User	Rating
13	scurry	25 _9%
Benjamin Button is like a caricature of Stoicism. Yes, the movie is technically impressive, but in essence it is each eventless, brown-tinted episode after another for ever. The acting is pointless. The dialogue is terrible, but it is the voice-overs that make you suicidal. This is a movie for those who cannot get enough of (brown) sunsets, empty words and tormented Southern-accented voices. It is the opposite of life. I could not finish watching and excused myself at 2/3 of the film through.
10	INDYATMN	35 _3%
Most beautifully shot Hallmark card ever! Almost 3hours devoted 2 groundbreaking message"Sh-t happens, enjoy life while u can". Yep life is like a box of chocolates here 2(script comes from the same HangInThereKitty-poster-mind that gave us Gump).BORING sinceButton is also gentle blank cipher who only observes, internalizing only fortune cookie aphorisms, chasingBlanchett b/c she's nice2look at.He spends years as a sailor but u'd never no it.Also:reverse aging twist registersONLY superficially.
9	KMcNeil	4 _33%
Mindnumbingly, menacingly slow - and without the depth you would hope and - from Fincher - expect. Very impressive from a technical standpoint (the use of light especially: Shifting between heavy and fading, shadowy hazy and full of contrast), very subpar from a narrative one. And thereby overall disappointingly mediocre. Not nearly as bad as "Forrest Gump", but then again: What is?
8	KAH	1 _10%
This movie doesn't teach you anything about life that you don't already know, all it does is tell a long and tedious story with shallow characters that you couldn't possibly care less about. The horrible closing monologue pretty much sums up the abyss of emptiness that this film is.
7	theficionado	25 _20%
Replace the hummingbird with a feather and "You never know what's coming" with "You never know what you're gonna get," and you basically have Forrest Gump Redux. If Forrest Gump had a mammy.
6	doctor7	91 _93%
A beautiful exploration about the pursuit of happiness and making the most out of your life. While relatively a tame film for Fincher I'd certainly consider it one of the most mature films he's made. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are both very impressive and the CGI effects, while still slightly noticable as CGI, are certainly some of the best I've seen. A wonderful film that's certainly one of the year's best.
5	djross	20 _3%
A script and a movie filled with very weak characterisation, an interminable procession of concocted events, and wave upon wave of folksiness, false wisdom and fake significance. Very little was made of the central premise, and even all the effort expended on effects and makeup yielded poor results. Avoid.
5	DavidKahane	12 _2%
A dreadful movie. That is partially due to the title character being so sketchily drawn that there is almost no personality there. Certainly, there's nothing in his behavior or outlook to indicate an age at odds with his deceptive features. He's not a wrinkled, decrepit person fueled by innocence and wonderment, or a wise soul rich with experience in a youthful body. He blandly exists, and that is all. Further, the central romance may be one of the dullest ever committed to film.
5	Anomaly	80 _74%
The modern-day flashback narrative device is kind of annoying, and there's a lot of potential that didn't quite get fulfilled, yet I still enjoyed it. The acting and the makeup/CGI are great, and the pacing is good enough to make you sit and watch it for almost three hours. Definitely Oscar bait, but still quite nice.
5	Zealot185	39 _17%
Painfully slow. I had high hopes for this - considering all of the praise and my enjoyment of Fincher's previous movies (especially the just-as-long Zodiac); but, Button's episodic storytelling via the cliched journal-reading framing device displays practically no coherence. And beyond the concept, there just isn't an interesting story nor compelling characters here.
5	Skenkere	56 _35%
It's good I guess, but not great. Thing is, I can't point out any specific flaws. It was long, but went fast, well acted, interesting story, well shot, everything's there, it just seemed to add up to nothing. The sum was not greater than its parts. It just didn't do anything for me, even though I kept waiting for it to. In the end, it just kind of felt like a more mature Forrest Gump, but without the charm.
5	KasperL	60 _50%
Though impressing with period detail, CGI and makeup, Fincher (over)reaches for profound musings on life, death, and everything in between but forgets to flesh out Pitt's character who wanders, Gump-style, through history. Tellingly, The Curious Blandness of Benjamin Button grows more interesting in the middle where the basic premise of reverse aging is used to introduce conflict. The rest (Benjamin growing up, the hospital framing) is by the numbers and, despite strong performances, unengaging.
4	JackDurden	8 _71%
This is surely David Fincher's masterpiece. The acting from Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett is fantastic, the special effects throughout the film are amazing, and the direction from Fincher is another great example of why he is one of the best directors of the last decade. The film is definitely not as bleak or adult as any of Fincher's previous films. Overall it is a wonderful film filled with great magic, and should be seen by anyone who loves film.
4	eveelun	74 _55%
At times beautiful and haunting, this film does an exquisite job of capturing the feeling of loneliness and isolation. But it does have its problems: it feels studio-slick and full of convenient platitudes, and most glaringly the main character feels weak. Benjamin is alternately naive or sage as it fits the story, and his reactions never tell us all that much about him. It's still pretty engaging, though, and the f/x are wonderful.
4	Barthalen	51 _29%
Apart from the age reversal gimmick, this movie was a run-of-the-mill drama with nothing interesting to say.
3	Luna6ix	90 _97%
this movie soars in the area of story, it provides great characters, and fantastic acting. at no point did it get boring, and every piece of the story was rich and compelling. the ending very good, and left you with a sentimental feel.
3	ZayanK	50 _20%
Remake of Forrest Gump.
3	Jeb	98 _93%
Although excessively long (clocking in at nearly 3 hours) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the year's top film. David Fincher has outdone himself with this surely Oscar-winning tale about a man that ages backwards. A film to be remembered until the end of time.
3	tinysausage	46 _3%
Sentimental twaddle. The makeup is preposterous and the whole film feels grey.
3	Spunkie	40 _24%
Gosh, Fincher is trying to Forrest Gump us? This is a weird year where directors are stepping out of their suit, I guess it's a wave of real life fairy tales with some morals or love on emphasis. Like every other Fincher movie it has its technical merits, this time less absorbed by the structure, maybe a little too colorful. After an hour I started feeling numbed by the movie with a sense of getting drifted along without much excitement.
3	sundaygirl	55 _22%
Whilst there are some incredibly beautiful camera work and lighting in this film, overall I found it quite unengaging, the script is predictable and overly-sentimental and the central character is very two-dimensional. I also found the extreme similarities with Forrest Gump (which had the same screenwriter) quite off-putting.
3	Maaxwell	25 _5%
In stark contrast to his previous works, here Fincher completely fails to challenge audiences emotionally or intellectually, instead offering an overlong, self-indulgent and frequently tedious love story that was plainly manufactured primarily to cater to shallow awards panels. Lifeless performances from Pitt and Blanchett and a dull script from Roth only exacerbate the ennui. The make-up, however, is fantastic.
3	Filligan	90 _79%
Fincher's Benjamin Button is a visionary marvel, as well as proof that there are still countless stories out there that can be shown on film. It's a reason I love the medium so much, there's always a chance to see and hear something you never have before. Pitt is absolute perfection, Blanchett impresses once again, and Fincher's bold new direction of sweeping romance mixed with a dash of humor is refreshing; I love him more and more after each film.
3	Jherman89	93 _96%
Fincher propels the audience into an immersing and heartwarming story. Brad Pitt gives one of his best film performances. The script is fueled with breathtaking cinematography. A memorable experience for any moviegoer.
3	cowfrappe	79 _86%
A fantastic piece of film making technically that doesn't seem to fully appeal emotionally. The effects, tone, and vision of the film are impeccable, but it lacks the heart of a truly great romance.
2	weirdyoda	65 _14%
Oscar fodder. Sweeping, expensive, star vehicle, engaging on first watch, but it is just another love story...with a semi-interesting conceit of backwards living.
2	lumen	5 _21%
Apparently a man aging backwards is just fine because most of the characters don't even notice and the rest is just slightly amused by the fact. After two hours I was just waiting to see how BB's death scene would play out: born as an old baby he should die as as young... baby? Looks like dramatic effect beats logic. In the end I guess the point of The Boring Case of Benjamin Button is that you can survive getting struck by lighting seven times if you're really lucky.
2	NathanDarko	98 _98%
...a celebration for all senses...slow,patient and melancholic. balanced and beautiful, after "Wrestler" my second Movie Highlight 2009.
2	JSchlansky	60 _43%
The Uncanny Case of Benjamin Valley
2	Farzan	62 _49%
An extremely interesting concept, and good execution, but I did not feel absorbed at all. I was bored throughout the entire film, even falling asleep with one third left in the film which is extremely rare for me to do. I awoke the next day to finish it only to feel the same way. Benjamin Button is a wonderful character, and although I believe David Fincher is an overrated director, I know he is talented and expected this film to completely change my opinion of him, but it didn't.
2	Pickpocket	6 _55%
Fincher really elevated this from what could've been a crap movie into something decent. There are a lot of shots of Pitt looking good and a lot more of him looking confused but his performance was good. And Blanchett was obviously good despite me not knowing a word she said as an old woman (can i get some subtitles??). The special effects are good and Fincher really knows how to move a camera. I won't be surprised when this wins a bunch of awards.
2	GravyMaximus	60 _47%
If Forrest Gump took itself more seriously.
2	OMercyMe33	50 _33%
Meh. A lot of people complained that this movie is very long, but I honestly didn't find it that bad. Really, it's just kind of a mediocre movie. I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this, but I felt that the whole aging-backwards thing was really secondary to the story. It was really just a love story, and I thought the age thing was more of a novelty. Meh... okay movie, but probably not worth your time.
2	TedDedon	90 _86%
I'm shocked by Benjamin Button. It was the fastest three-hour movie I've ever seen. From start to finish I was captivated by this larger--or maybe I should say older--than life fairy-tale that was both personal and incredibly grandiose. I don't think Benjamin Button is only one of the best movies of the year but one of the best in many, many years. It is a movie I will vividly remember for a very long time and for that reason alone will treasure it dearly.
2	Quimbo	22 _3%
Still cleaning little chunks of vomit off my shirt. This was one of the worst, most self-satisfied movies I've seen in quite some time.
1	Nursus	66 _9%
C'est beau, mais long et l'on attend en vain qu'il se passe quelque chose. De belles tranches de vie, mais ce serait presque pareil sans la particularité du héros. Morales du film assez discutables. Belle musique mais un peu répétitive... Lorgne vers Amélie Poulain sans l'égaler, dommage.
1	afx237vi	40 _23%
For a film with such a fantastical premise, I found it odd that it took itself so seriously. It occasionally has some interesting things to say about fate, or the transience of life, love and other relationships - but it's so long and so earnest, I grew bored of it fairly quickly. The script is terrible, too. Each line is delivered in a deliberately weighted attempt to sound profound, but it just ends up turning into a never ending torrent of clichés.
1	pompousass	20 _44%
With a script by Roth, and with an historical scope and a "special" hero that often recall his script for _Forrest Gump_, the movie is at some pains to shore up the plausibility of the tale -- a painful undertaking for sure -- and to expunge the humor of it. On screen, nothing is more absurd about it than its length, two and three-quarters hours, plenty long enough to read the Fitzgerald story five or six times over.
1	Haha	64 _32%
Overrated in every sense of the word. All flash and no bang. Average on all the bang (ie acting, story, characters, dramatic tension, etc.)
1	ivyt	20 _9%
The makeup and effects are good, but other than that, this is movie belongs in the crapper. Too damn long, the story is boring and not very interesting at all, and Brad Pitt continues to annoy me, he's awful. All he does is mumble for nearly 3 hours and he gets acclaim? Why? All the sex scenes are ugly and dumb, and I just gotta say that The Dark Knight deserved this films praise.
1	rewind	4 _45%
Just turn into a dumb baby and die already.
1	MArkjp	60 _41%
Somehow I feel that the scenes towards the end where Button is growing very old/young had the potential to be far more emotionally powerful than they were. But they felt rushed which is kind of a shame in a film that's easily 30 minutes too long. But it had it's moments, with Taraji P. Henson delivering some of my personal favourites. "There's shitloads of things you don't know, kid"
1	Zozan	45 _47%
Long, boring movie.. Yes, the man gets younger and younger as time passes, and that was interesting for a while but feels like there is nothing else worth mentioning.
1	boomdiddly	29 _11%
The best thing about this movie is that it set up a hilarious scene in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
1	Shynkycker	10 _0%
Possibly the ultimate example of Hollywood taking a great concept to which it applies state of the art production values, and even reasonable acting, but then smooths out any potential rough edges and serious consideration in favour of bland stereotypes and plucking of heartstrings by the numbers. It's essentially terrible in comparison to what it might have been, and falls a long way short of all the Shawshank / Forrest Gump type comparisons that it tries to invoke.
1	nauru	30 _21%
A couple of cool parts, but let's face it: this movie sucked pretty hard. SOooooo boring. Absolutely no justification at all for 3 hour running time.
1	FrederikA	60 _50%
Essentially a Forrest Gump remake and furthermore it suffers from narrative problems with pacing, dialogue and more than once even an aimless drifting out redundant avenues. But at the same time it offers great cinematography, fine acting, groundbreaking CGI, rich 20th century milieus and from time to time even a few profound observations about life and aging
1	ThereminJam	20 _8%
I hated this movie. It's nothing like the short story at all.
1	paleAvenger	76 _20%
The movie takes its moderately clever premise - a man aging backwards - and adds absolutely nothing to it.
1	ABUNCHOFCATS	70 _30%
Long and incredibly flawed movie. Pitt was excellent in it and so was the make-up and effects used on him but the movie moves around so clumsily that it was a pain to keep following it and it falls apart near the end.
1	Bavafreak	55 _11%
Bizarre misstep for Fincher, who clearly isn't cut out for 'emotional' fare such as this. Well made but oddly off-putting.
1	mklehner	30 _4%
Boring as fuck.
1	Melvin Smif	40 _43%
The only thing to spark my curiousity is the adoration this film enjoys. Insert generic Forrest Gump comparison here (others have done it well enough so I'll just mention it, I mean who doesn't see Gump in this movie, at least Gump was entertaining.)
1	brandt64	80 _65%
Forget about the overall silliness of the story, and enjoy the ride.
1	blacklantern	29 _11%
This movie got nominanted for 11 oscars, was it? Why? I can understand the makeup and special effects departments but otherwise why bother the idea of a person aging backwards is interesting, but the actual story is BORING.
1	marc01	40 _20%
This is the second time David Fincher has disappointed me.
1	SlrSoapbox	70 _41%
Near-flawless CGI and some excellent acting from Pitt, Blanchett and Henson. My only complaint is that Button is ultimately a transparent character with no real aspects to his personality beyond coping with his unusual situation and his love for Daisy. Still, the film is an achievement and worth the (butt-numbing) 3 hours of attention.
1	QVT	10 _15%
Oscar fodder.
1	Stain	60 _47%
The central fantasy conceit -- a man is born old, and gets younger at the same rate everybody else ages -- is not particularly original or interesting, and it isn't handled in an especially dramatic or clever way. This movie is a big ol' wannabe-_Forrest Gump_, right down to the historical/cultural touchstones (the world wars, the African man who actually was kept as a zoo exhibit, Edgar Cayce, etc.)
1	Petr.vyleta	94 _97%
What if... ? This movie is like dream. You know, it can't be true, but you would love to belive it. And you stil have to ask: What if... ? Beautiful movie, not only about difficulties of love, death and old people, and a value of every single moment of our lives. This movie really surprised me.
1	mdruskin	74 _42%
A nice concept but dragged on for 3 hours and so Hollywoodized to look like an epic that it forget to actually explore these ideas and just becomes a regular boring biopic.
1	max22	50 _18%
What we have here is a very frustrating movie. Technically, it's a marvel, with beautiful cinematography, seamless special effects, and a great score. The performances are top-rate, and the pacing makes a long movie feel much shorter. And.. there's nothing else to it. I know Fincher has more great movies in him, but it's maddening to see him waste a great concept like this. The main problem, I think, is Benjamin himself. He's a man of few words, which is fine. But he's also a man of few actions.
1	yilb	50 _39%
What an interesting idea turned into a banal story.
1	Shoran	88 _95%
A heart warming story. Pitt and Blanchett make a lovely couple, of course, and you can't but feel endearment towards Benjamin. Also I loved Queenie, what a lady!
1	krmr	83 _58%
I don't know how Fincher does it, but, like Zodiac, this three hour flick never actually felt like it. Great movie over all, interesting plot, great characters, and great effects for the most part (there are a very scenes that dip into the Uncanny Valley, but otherwise astounding). I think it could have been a lot more gripping had the first half been as emotionally powerful as the second. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I don't think I'd get anything out of a repeat viewing.
1	Ytadel	4 _43%
An intriguing fairy tale. Perhaps a little bit too maudlin for its own good at points but the central romance is well-executed and Cate Blanchett is good.
1	aethewulf	60 _18%
The last minutes were the best parts of the movie.As a matter of fact, i watched it until it ends because of my "curiousity".
1	PeaceAnarchy	89 _92%
It's not a perfect movie, but it's often frustratingly close. Wonderful acting, magnificent make-up work and editing choices that make a 3 hour film fly by. The story is rich, deep, moving but never too serious, and very well crafted with a fine mix of originality and humanity. Yet the flashback style was distracting and there's just something that makes it feel like it missed the opportunity to be an all time great, instead of just great.
1	sw0	89 _82%
Just brilliant!
1	LennyNero	65 _50%
Despite impressive production values, the movie gets pretty boring and repetitive after an hour. The fact that the whole movie is as emotionally cold as an operating table doesn't help either.
1	MJVmovieMan	80 _79%
A visual knockout. Talk about impressive make-up, visual effects, set design, cinematography. This movie looks amazing. I wish I could says its title character, Benjamin Button, was as impressive. While the story here undoubtedly screams intrigue (probably the most interesting premise of the year), Brad Pitt's character doesn't have the impact I was hoping for unlike Forrest Gump. Still, it's a darn good film that you only wish you could keep with you like the best of them.
1	Tripwyre	88 _89%
Perhaps the best directed film of 2008, the film's glossy classical aesthetic just might be its top quality (yes, even better than the very impressive age make-up). Pitt has never looked like more of a movie star, nor Blanchett more strikingly beautiful. There is a surprising amount of humour in the film ("struck by lightning"), and though the premise is interesting, a slew of strong characters make it captivating (Harris, Henson and Swinton above all). An affecting film, I liked it quite a bit.
1	wanderkid	72 _45%
WTF voice over narration? Completely ruined this film for me. "The floor boards of the house creaked," then the floor boards would creak. Filmmaking 101: Show, don't tell.
1	frederic_g54	8 _77%
Trust me when I say: don't leave the theatre midway through (and I'm glad I didn't). The films seems to suffer from tonal dissonance, struggling to settle for a proper equilibrium - whereas a film like Pan's Labyrinth would strike the balance between fantasy and drama successfully. It definitely picks itself up halfway through, as Fincher engages the audience to witness something truly out of the ordinary.
1	Mentaculus	67 _46%
It should go without saying that this film is a technical marvel - makeup, costume, lighting, composition - it's all gorgeous and awe-inducing. But the film's crux, the love shared between its two protagonists, at times felt forced and contrived. (And this film confirms that Eric Roth thinks men should sleep around and women are either whores or mothers, so I have an inkling of a problem with characterizations.) It had its moments of beauty and poignancy, but it could have had so much more.
1	Icarus	70 _41%
Well, Cate Blanchett is in it. But the film's episodic nature and lack of truly profound or meaningful insights significantly knock it back in my estimation. Instead, we get ideas like" "there are no rules in life" or "live life to the fullest," platitudes that ring hollow in the face of the pain and tragedy his choices wrought. The film was easy enough to watch, and certainly nice to look at, but the experience left me more than a little cold toward it. It should be better than it is.
1	Jarmann	60 _25%
Great psychedelic adventurism the first half of the movie. Then, suddenly, everything turns into ye olde Hollywood love story and becomes tedious fast. I also not comfortable with the fact that Bejamin is still pretty unknown to me towards the end of the movie.
1	KlausGlenski	65 _38%
Too long for the tenderly told love story but too short for a thorough insight into a character like Benjamin Button. From a technical point of view this might be a very good movie with very good actors but somehow it is lacking its very essence. 04/01/2010
1	Ross	80 _84%
The directing is perfect. The acting is perfect. The visuals are perfect. The script is good. Eric Roth had the possibility to explore hardcore philosophical issues; instead he chose an ordinary love story. The story lies very close to Forest Gump. The core of both films is the eternal love for a woman. But loving Daisy seems unlikely. Yes, she is hot! But she is a bitch until the age of 40. Jenny is at least sweet as a child.
1	willowpez	82 _68%
Technically brilliant but emotionally cold.
1	NorthSider	94 _95%
Director David Fincher rises to yet another unparalleled feat in production with this heartrending adventure that somehow manages to brilliantly synthesize realism and fantasy, love and tragedy, beauty and poignance. A captivating film that sweeps through an array of stories of stirring romance, inspiring achievement, and untimely disaster, Benjamin Button draws the viewer in through the poetic words of F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed by majestic cinematography and phenomenal performances.
1	forgetregret	70 _69%
Although there wasn't anything WRONG with it, really, it felt unoriginal. It was too long, the pace was inconsistent, and I know it's been said before, but it was basically Forrest Gump, only instead of being retarded, Benjamin ages backwards. Okay.
1	spookey	50 _15%
Slow, sometimes annoyingly slow. Benjamin has an annoying accent and barely does anything but stand by. Why this story needed to be told by a dying person is a mystery to me. When you start watching this film, you probably already know that it's about a backwards aging person (if not, now you do). The film makes no attempt in making that concept more interesting than it is at face-value. Also, they didn't push baby Benjamin back into a woman, so 0 for consistancy.
1	kemalettin	70 _27%
Worst Movie of Fincher :/
1	mehd10s	40 _9%
Pfffffffffffff !!!
1	chemical404	51 _41%
At runtime of almost 3 hours you would hope for some epic story with well developed characters, and yet this film fails to provide any of that. Interesting undeveloped idea with some incredibly cheesy scenes (hummingbirds?). Film looks the best way money can buy, but lacks real content or emotion. Poor man's "Big Fish".
1	Hawkins	87 _84%
I'd be lying if I didn't admit I love this horrifying tear-jerker. It normalizes such a bonkers concept like it's no big deal, dude ages backward and doctors never even look at him twice. No, Benjamin Button is anything but larger-than-life. His unique condition seems to leave him content being wholly unremarkable in every other way, while the normal people around him are all driven to make themselves stand out. Aspiring to an average that the average reject. It runs long but it's damn charming.

Displaying 1 to 250 of 364 total ratings: Prev | Next

Average Percentile 52.85% from 12219 Ratings