The Curious Case of Forest Gump...er...Benjamin Button

I love really good ideas. I love them the first time someone does them. It's always best the first time.

Benjamin Button is a really good idea. I think ultimately we can credit Mark Twain with that (who gave the idea to F. Scott Fitzgerald, who then passed it along to Eric Roth, who subsequently kept it to himself and wrote The Curious Case of Benjamin Button instead.)

A man who is born an old man and dies a baby. Lives life in reverse.

What kills me, after nearly 3 hours, is that the most important relationship in the entire damn film finally comes in to play about 2 hours in, and then lasts all of 30 minutes. Gee, I sure hope somebody gave Eric Roth a pair of scissors for Christmas. Snip, snip.

Benjamin Button is a man who gets better with age physically, emotionally, mentally ('cept for the end.) One thing that doesn't get better with age, however, is a good idea. A good idea lasts an exceptionally short amount of time, before it gives way to a better idea.

Forest Gump was a GOOD idea! It sucks the second time around. There's a scene in the movie that I swear to god was literally copied, word for word, from Forest and Jenn-ay! A mother from the South with a big heart and a few catchy sayings, a childhood love that he is somehow destined to be with (although, that point was lost on me), even a boat that survives many a storm! Oh, and did I mention it's all told with a narration from a person living in the present about to embark on a very important journey. The only new thing was the idea of living from old age to youth. And Hurricane Katrina (which made a nice, if meaningless, cameo.)

Brad Pitt is up for a Golden Globe for best performance by an actor, though you could hardly call it a performance. The role is written so inactively, that the make-up department's special effects do most of the heavy lifting for him.