Depending on your outlook on life, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is either a heart lifting story, or an extremely depressing one. Me, I see life through dull gray glasses, so I found it depressing. Very depressing. That’s not to say I think it’s a bad movie. I don’t. I think it’s a rather interesting and very well made movie. I think the acting was brilliant, as expected considering the cast.

So if you haven’t seen the ads, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, loosely based on a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about a boy who’s born old, and grows…young. They show that in the ads. I’m not giving anything away. Really.
Brad Pitt, and I suspect an army of CGI artists, bring the character to the screen, and as we already know, on top of being annoyingly good looking and having sex with Angelina Jolie, Pitt is a very good actor. This movie is no exception. He’s great. Very understated. Very quiet. Very real, considering the situation.

Cate Blanchett plays someone who meets Benjamin early on, when he’s “old”. Hers is an important role with a lot of depth to it, and Ms.Blanchett is really great. She always is, I know. She truly becomes each character she plays in every movie. Blanchett will never be accused of being a one note actress.

Also in the movie is the always amazing Tilda Swinton, who despite everything, I always find attractive if not intriguing.
Jared Harris does a great job as a tug boat captain. Harris is a fine character actor, who can play good or bad easily. Julia Ormond had a smaller but important role and did very nicely.
Possibly my favorite character in the film is called Queenie, and she’s played by an actress I don’t know, Taraji Henson. Wow, she was really good.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was directed by David Fincher, marking his third film with Pitt. This is the least Fincher-like Fincher film I’ve ever seen. I don’t mean that in a negative or positive way. It’s just a fact. I think Fincher did a fine job. If I had any complaints, they would be about some of the second act dragging a bit, and possibly some of the effects, which looked a bit off at times. But over all I’d say this is a good movie. But you might wanna bring tissues…