I would have loved to give this film 4-5 stars.  I just could not in good conscience do it.

David Fincher (director) may be reaching his full potential as a filmmaker.  I hope not.  I hope each of his films that follow allow him to continue to grow.  I just do not know how the media of film can be used to better tell a story in the style that Fincher has grown into.  I have anxiously awaited each of his films after Se7en broke into the mainstream.  Some (Fight Club, The Game) have been more poignant and groundbreaking than others (Panic Room, Zodiac), but all have shown that Fincher understands how to dive into the heart of a story and take the viewer along with him.  Even Alien3, his lackluster directorial debut showed early signs of promise (until the studio got their hands on it and spewed forth what ultimately hit theaters...sorry, back to Button).  He seamlessly verges modern and classic storytelling and film-making techniques while remembering and enhancing the emotional centers of the characters he intends to bring to life.  While I believe he may be at the peak of his craft with his latest offering "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," the movie should not be considered for best picture of 2008 for a very good reason.

Without getting into plot details, Button examines notions of fate and the timing of it, coincidence, courage, and the ironic reality that "coming of age" and "aging" are seldom ever the same thing (the last point emphasized by the fact that the hero ages in reverse).  It reminds us that the most difficult choices in life are often the most important, and that the more difficult roads are often the right ones. 

The movie is a relatively long 2 hours and 45 minutes, but you do not notice.  The film-making pulls you into its world and away from yours.  It could have been another 30 minutes longer and I might not have noticed. 

The acting, while not memorable, is never a deterrent or distraction.

This may very will be the best movie of the year, but I highly doubt it will win the Oscar for best picture.  Certainly not best adapted screenplay, and that may be Button's only downfall.  Not that the writing was bad; nothing can pull a viewer out of a story more quickly than bad writing and I've already stated that the story is extremely engaging.  The problem is in the similarities to a movie that did win best picture a few years back - Forrest Gump.  The 2 films share the same screenwriter, which I did not know until a few days after seeing Button, but I commented to my wife even on the way home from the theater about similarities I had noticed.  I will get into plot points here so scroll down if you don't wish to read any spoilers:

1. The hero in both movies is a smaller than life personality that has larger than life things happen to them throughout the story.  On its own I would not consider this an issue as it is merely the nature of the characters.  Perhaps this is why the same guy was enlisted to pen the script.  In light of the next few items, however, this similarity is unforgettable.

2. Both heroes end up romantically involved with and having children with women they became enamored with as children.  In both cases the hero thinks he is in love with the girl before the girl is ready to be in love with him.

3. Both heroes ultimately find true love with these women later in life.  They have children with them but their offspring do not find out who their fathers are until their mothers are dying (in Gump, Jenny is not on her deathbed, but she does tell Forrest that she knows she is dying before little Forrest finds out who his father is).

4. Forrest's mother tells him, "life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you are going to get."  I don't remember the exact wording of the line in Button, but at one point Benjamin's adopted mother tells him to keep an eye on the front door because you never know who/what life is going to bring through it.  However it was worded, it certainly felt like the same line as in Gump.

5. Both heroes grow up without their fathers in their lives, and their first father figures away from home are a lieutenant (Gump) and a captain (Button).  Both the lieutenant and captain are lost souls that find themselves to some extent while in the company of their respective heroes.

I'm sure there are more, but these were the most obvious that I took from my initial viewing.  Having never read F. Scott Fitzgerald's original short story I initially thought that whoever wrote Gump must have borrowed heavily from it and that the movie version of Button was extremely true to the short story.  However, I have since made the connection that it is the same screenwriter and have been told that the movie version of Button is more or less only loosely based on Fitzgerald's classic.  This is all extremely unfortunate, because I feel with Fincher's hand at the helm Button could have been as good without the Forrest Gump rehashes in the script.  It is a good thing for the writer that you cannot plagiarize yourself, but unfortunately you cannnot pay homage to yourself either.

With that being said, Button is not merely a retelling of Gump.  While they may be similar stories told in similar ways, they are two very different films that convey their stories and bring about emotion in very different ways.  Forrest Gump was a pop culture phenomenon that leaned heavily on a fantastic performance by Tom Hanks and groundbreaking special effects, but Benjamin Button is a masterfully made film through and through.  It is darker and less bubble gummy than Gump, and because of this feels more real despite having an impossible set of circumstances at its core.  I intend to give it multiple viewings on Blu-ray once released.  3 stars does not do it justice, but such is life.

Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: None of the Above
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: A few glitches, but mostly complete.
Worst Part of this Film: Script