Directed by Lee Toland Krieger, the film stars Blake Lively, Harrison Ford, Michiel Huisman, and Ellen Burstyn. Adaline Bowman (Lively) was born in 1908, but after a car accident in 1929, she inexplicably stops aging. By 2014, Adaline has settled into a reclusive routine where she changes her identity every decade to avoid detection. Pressured by her elderly daughter, Flemming (Burstyn), to find some companionship, Adaline agrees to go out with self-made billionaire Ellis Jones (Huisman), who sweeps her off her feet. One weekend, they travel to Ellis's parents' house for their fortieth anniversary celebration, Adaline comes face-to-face with someone important from her past, which threatens to reveal the secret she's desperately been trying to keep for decades. I went into the theatre with minimal expectations, and the film was exactly what I thought it would be: a rather silly entry into the time-bending genre that did not deliver the emotional depth it thought it did. For me, the worst part was that the filmmakers completely copped out of trying to explain why Adaline stopped aging - the excuse in the film was that the reason "would only be discovered in 2035." I thought that was incredibly lazy and sloppy of them to take the easy way out. And if one made the argument that the science behind it wasn't the point of the film - that the point was the romance - well, the love story wasn't very captivating, either, because it was difficult to become invested in either of the leads (an incestuous element also makes it a little creepy). The film, while lackluster, is entertaining as a popcorn flick, but you have to be willing to ignore all of its faults to not be frustrated by it.
Should you see it: This one is up to you
Grade: C
