Who is supposed to be the target audience for this romantic fantasy? Immediately bringing to mind Somewhere in Time and The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Age of Adaline follows a young woman, Adaline (Blake Lively), who stops aging after an auto accident coincides with a lightning strike. Unable to live a normal life, Adaline is hunted by the Feds and forced into the peripatetic life of the Incredible Hulk or Richard Kimble. Eventually, Adaline’s daughter (Ellen Burstyn), out-ages her. But when Adaline meets Ellis (rising star Michiel Huisman), she considers settling down. Then she meets Ellis’ dad, William (Harrison Ford), who inexplicably happens to be the last guy with whom she almost settled down. Meld the serendipities of romance with the unbelievability of fantasy, and you have the unwieldiness of Lee Toland Krieger’s followup to the less-likable-than-it-should-have-been Celeste & Jesse Forever. (How do you make Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg unappealing? Look no further for an answer.)
The Age of Adaline is a pretty picture with above-average performances from Lively and Ford, but some narrative missteps (that occasional VO is the worst since another Ford vehicle) lead the film to get rather soggy. Also, Anthony Ingruber, the actor who plays the young Ford, is so creepily uncanny in both looks and voice that it becomes distracting at a crucial moment in the film’s momentum. Has he been digitally created? Overdubbed? Apparently, the answer is neither.
The Age of Adaline will not last nearly as long as its protagonist, which is a shame for Lively, who still needs a landmark movie to graduate fully from “Gossip Girl.”
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
