At first, the callow and conceited Daisy wants to jump into bed with wise old Benjamin because she likes the idea of doing it with an older man. This girl, a brilliant ballet dancer, grows up to be Cate Blanchett as their ages converge, Daisy and Benjamin have a brief, passionate love affair, before the contra-flow of time takes them away from each other: ships that pass in the night.īefore they finally consummate their love, however, there are a number of false starts. As a wizened geezer-munchkin at the beginning of his strange existence, Button is to meet Daisy, a clear-eyed, auburn-haired little girl with whom he has an instant connection that is not at all creepy or paedophilic. Then he dwindles to a boy and a baby again, unlined this time. The weird thing is that he emerges from the womb a tiny shrivelled old man and gets younger and younger until he becomes super-gorgeous Brad Pitt. The idea is that Benjamin Button - a name that, incidentally, does not get any less annoying as the minutes and hours drag by - is an Everyman-ish sort of fellow who is born in New Orleans just after the end of the first world war and lives until his late 80s. And, at two hours and 40 minutes, it really does go on for an incredibly long time.ĭavid Fincher directs this adaptation, by screenwriter Eric Roth, of a minor 1921 story by F Scott Fitzgerald. What a incredible shaggy-puppy of a movie, a cobweb-construction patched together with CGI, prosthetics, gibberish and warm tears. R emove "curious" from the title and replace it with "twee and pointless", and you're close to it.