WASHINGTON — Move over, Benjamin Button.
There’s a new curious case of biology and her name is Lively.
How fitting.
Blake Lively (“Gossip Girl”) stars as Adaline Bowman, born in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century. For three decades, she lives a normal life, until a freak accident freezes her at age 29.
We pick up decades later when she’s technically age 108, but still looks 29. The only person who knows her secret is her elderly daughter (Ellen Burstyn), while her ageless dilemma causes commitment issues with a series of boyfriends over the years. But when she meets a hunky co-worker, Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman), she begins to question the price of anonymous immortality.
Let’s start by addressing the gigantic elephant in the movie theater. This film features one of those high-concept premises so preposterous that you either buy into the magic right from the start, or you roll your eyes at the far-fetched setup. Nothing in this review will change your mind on this front.
But to the credit of director Lee Toland Krieger (“The Vicious Kind”) and writers J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz, “Adaline” boasts a tone that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It calls itself on its absurdity by giving playful explanations of its science and chalking up its coincidences to the cosmos.
Such a premise lives and dies by its lead, and Lively is surprisingly up to the task. For those who wrote her off as a young adult TV star, “Adaline” is a revelation. It’s fantastic to see the “Gossip Girl” alum stretching the bounds of her potential, just like co-star Leighton Meester, who joined WTOP to talk about launching her first solo singer-songwriter tour at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia.
Lively has clearly benefited from working with talented directors like Ben Affleck in “The Town” (2010) and Oliver Stone in “Savages” (2012). Her growth shows here, playing Adaline with just the right touch of soft-spoken wisdom to convince us she’s an old soul. Romancing a far younger love interest in Huisman, who recently wooed Reese Witherspoon in “Wild” (2014), Lively bizarrely joins Anne Bancroft’s Mrs. Robinson and Ruth Gordon’s Maude for cinematic age differentials.
Bolstering the rising talent of Lively is the veteran experience of Ellen Burstyn, who is great in just about everything she gets her hands on, from Peter Bogdanvoich’s “The Last Picture Show” (1971) to William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist” (1973), from Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” (1974) to Darren Aronofsky’s “Requiem for a Dream” (2000). Most recently, she played the elderly Murph — the older version of Jessica Chastain — in Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” (2014).
In the second half of the film, we also add veteran performances from Harrison Ford (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”) and Kathy Baker (“Picket Fences”), thanks to a plot twist that provides Ford some of his best acting moments in years, but which also gives the film one too many far-fetched moments.
We’re willing to go along with the initial premise. That’s why we buy the movie tickets. It’s part of our suspension of disbelief. But when you add another unrealistic coincidence — involving Ford’s backstory — the film tries our patience, dangerously teetering on losing its credibility of logic.
Thankfully, this twist allows for Act Three to explore some complex emotions of lost love and fear of commitment. This builds to a literal and figurative turning point as a major character sees the light, instantly triggering the universe to intervene with magic once more. This full-circle climax is enough on its own, without another round of narration, yet the film closes with more voiceover hand-holding.
Don’t worry, we won’t spoil the ending. Let’s just say there’s a powerful image that would have been the perfect way to end the film with a bit of visual storytelling. Instead, the film’s tongue-in-cheek narrator arrives once more to explain the exact science of what is happening to the characters.
It would be as if “The Godfather” (1972) ended with its famous shot of a door closing on Diane Keaton, only for a narrator to announce, “As Pacino’s door closed on Keaton, she became just the latest victim in decades of female abuse in this patriarchal society.”
Let the image speak for itself!
Extreme exposition can taint a movie’s credibility and fantasy premises are best left unexplained: “Harvey” (1950), “Field of Dreams” (1989), “Groundhog Day” (1993), “Benjamin Button” (2008).
“Age of Adaline” won’t be immortal like those films, because it attempts to explain too much. But it does make for a captivating, magical night at the movies and a successful career move for all involved.
So grab yourself a grail cup, dip it into the fountain of youth and raise a glass to the 27-year-old star, who may be forever 29 on screen, but acts far beyond her years.
★ ★ ★
The above rating is based on a 4-star scale. See where this film ranks in Jason’s Fraley Film Guide. Follow WTOP Film Critic Jason Fraley on Twitter @JFrayWTOP.
