Just like the maturation of cheese, “Age of Adaline” slowly but surely became what almost every romantic film falls victim to: cliché and tolerable with a glass of wine.
The movie starts off with Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) who suffers a curse of staying 29-years-old forever after a freak car accident during a stormy night. After decades of running in fear of being suspected, Adaline falls in love with Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman) and is left to decide whether she wants to continue fleeing scenes or live a life she’s always wanted to live.
Lee Toland Krierger directed Friday’s release, choosing to depict the story in modern day San Francisco where Adaline resides in a spacious one-bedroom apartment with her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Reese in the Chinatown neighborhood.
But unlike her costar’s effortless happy-go-lucky demeanor, Lively’s stiff approach at being the ageless Adaline leaves audience members wondering if Lively is ready to stand alone.
Every word Lively enunciates is forcefully pushed out in a weird Southern-belle air with an attitude that becomes pretty annoying. The combination of the two make the character look more standoffish than the story implies.
Although Lively puts a considerable amount of effort into retaining her lady-like persona, she appears to channel her infamous role of Serena van der Woodsen from “Gossip Girl.”
From throwing a couple of witty zingers at her undesirable suitors to looking out of windows at party-bound couples enjoying a night of unity and love, Lively manages to encompass the desirable mix of being both beautiful and unattainable.
Then, of course, that’s where Michiel Huisman’s character comes in. Charming and rich, Jones’s shaggy and mysterious appearance captures not only the attention of the leading lady’s eye, but also the attention of almost all the swooning women in the audience.
Soon enough the chase begins, and Huisman’s character exudes an overly obsessive infatuation for Adaline that borderlines the creep-zone.
Jones’s insatiable attraction for Adaline leads him to find her through measures he was capable of because he was wealthy and had the proper connections to do so. The way the chase played out and how easily Adaline fell for him lacked the luster of “Notebook” romances, and set a sketchy chemistry between the two characters.
The unconvincing fumble of how the narrator unfolded Bowman’s story didn’t help either.
By grabbing fictional scientific facts, the movie becomes a joke. The narrator consistently tries to reiterate why certain things happen by utilizing algorithms and equations that would eventually make sense in the year 2033.
It’s evident that these “facts” are only trying to scapegoat what could’ve been more creatively thought out.
Aside from its pitfalls, shots of the city are stunning and complimented by an incredible wardrobe with each of Lively’s outfits.
Lively’s petite frame adorns old fashioned yet modernized gowns with the perfect hairstyle to match, making it hard to turn away even during the cheesiest scenes.
A handful of pleasant surprises creep up into the movie, overshadowing the faux-science distractions such as the awkward and genuine on-set relationship Lively builds with co-star, Harrison Ford.
All in all, the movie veers off a different path in order to reinvent the modern love story by going with a fictional, fantasy twist. The move is bold, as these attempts aren’t as common, but still pan out to be very predictable yet somehow easy to swallow past.
DIRECTOR: Lee Toland Krieger
STARRING: Blake Lively, Harrison Ford, Michiel Huisman
DISTRIBUTED BY: Lionsgate
MPAA: PG – 13
RUN TIME: 1 hr 50 min
RATING: 2.5 stars out of 5