Pitt the Younger (Brad Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button aspires to greatness)

National Review ^ | Dec. 24, 2008 | Thomas S. Hibbs

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Sounds like the lib Pitt infused his politics into the movie, just as FSF did in much of his writing. Was there ever a worse ending and soapbox than the ending of This Side of Paradise when the hitchhiker proclaims his socialism to the wealthy guy who gives him a ride?. Though I've read all of FSF’s writings, I won't be reading them again looking for greater depth as I have with truly great literature, which continually ‘feeds’ me as I return to it every 5 or 10 years.

FSF and Pitt, to me, are both way overrated.

[shhrubbery!]

The character, the mother and the hype around it just grate on me.

I detest Sally Field, and the scene where she humps the creepy guy so her retarded son can go to school is just...creepy.

I'm no prude, but did not find that scene funny at all. (Nor did I like having to explain it to my young children.) Others in the audience tittered - I suppose some out of embarrassment, but some guffawed as if that were a great comic moment.

Otherwise I guess the movie had some good points. I'm happy when a worthy handicapped person, even a fictional one, is celebrated. It's good to have an entertaining story that gives people have second thoughts about a class of human beings that have long been ridiculed for no damn good reason.

[shhrubbery!]

...a kindly African-American worker at the home, Queenie (in a marvelous performance by Taraji P. Henson), embraces Benjamin as one of God’s children — even as she observes that Lord has done something very “strange” in this case — and adopts him.

This kindly "African-American" is an invention of Pitt's also (in addition to the Hurricane Katrina storyline). She is not F. Scott Fitzgerald's character, at least.

I just read the first five chapters of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button --full text free online-- and there is NO "Queenie" anywhere in those chapters. Nor does Fitzgerald call anyone an "African-American" (now there's an anachronism).

Looks to me like another case of "The Magic Negro" as described by leftist LA Times writer David Ehrenstein. AKA The Numinous Negro, as identified by Rick Brookhiser of NRO earlier.

Does Hollywood make any movies anymore that don't have a "Magic Negro" in the storyline?

[FortWorthPatriot]

Ha ha! I never thought of it that way before!!

[4Liberty]

Sounds like a remake of ‘Harold & Maude’ (1971).

But the characters sexes are reversed...

[CDB]

This concept is hundreds of years old. Didn’t Merlin—of the Arthurian legends—age backwards? Merlin didn’t have the aged appearance at birth of Benjamin Button, but Merlin did have the wisdom and experience of an old man when he was born.

[Timmy]

This concept is hundreds of years old. Didn’t Merlin—of the Arthurian legends—age backwards?

The backwards aging of Merlin is from a relatively recent version of the legend. The Once and Future King, I believe, written by T.H. White and published in 1958. I don't think it was part of the legend prior to that.

[CDB]

Thanks, and best wishes for a very Merry Christmas!

[NEW YORKCITYGOPMAN]

The story is supposed to take place in BALTIMORE.

He went to Yale.

There is NO mention of New Orelans in the short story, is there?

[WestCoastGal]

[WestCoastGal]

"Sure sounds like a good movie and I've been a Brad Pitt fan since “A River Runs Through It”.

I loved that movie as well. Also Legends Of The Fall was great!! Both made me want to move to Montana, I got as far as Wyoming. :)

[oblomov]

What didn't you like about the film? Actually that cinematic technique was used much earlier, and to fascinating effect, in Woody Allen's Zelig. In a sense, the Zelig character was an anti-Gump; not an accidental historical figure, but rather one who influences historical figures by (perhaps unconsciously, perhaps consciously, it is unclear) resembling them.

[AnAmericanMother]

That ain't Pitt the Younger . . . THIS is Pitt the Younger:

[netmilsmom]

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid was 1982
Zelig was 1983.

DMDWP was the first and better than any other.

[rintense]

Another pretentious ‘art’ piece that does a disservice to the original, which means, it and Pitt will likely win an oscar. Shameful.

[rintense]

He’s aged 20 years since then, and now shags an adulterous heroine addict who is addicted to child collecting.

[mysterio]

it boasts a running time of 176 minutes

Good. I hope the movie lasts all day. It looks absolutely awesome.

[mysterio]

which means, it and Pitt will likely win an oscar. Shameful.

He's a pretty good actor, in my opinion.

[Diago]

You are the first person I have ever seen who dislikes Forrest Gump. That movie is one of my all time favorites.

Disliked Gump as well.

[Borges]

"Sounds like the lib Pitt infused his politics into the movie"

He didn't. The film ends before the hurricane really begins.