The Age Of Adaline

Oh the horror of spending your entire life looking like a sexy, twentysomething blonde Hollywood bombshell!

Blake Lively stars as Adaline – a woman born in 1908, but forever left looking like a 29-year old after a mystical, magical car accident (there was snow and lightning and water and everything, so you know it was crazy magic, and plenty of people in Hollywood will try to replicate it this weekend).

Poor Adaline has been living her life in fear as she hops from one place to another, while constantly adopting new identities to keep her secret. However, true love might be her biggest obstacle of them all.

One miraculous New Year’s Eve, she meets the handsome and super rich Ellis (Michiel Huisman). He’s so charming and wonderful, and she’s so smart and mysterious, the two can’t help but fall madly in love.

The relationship moves forward at a furious pace, and the two decide to spend the weekend together with Ellis’s family, where his father, William (Harrison Ford), is shocked to meet the young lady, who looks remarkably like the woman who broke his heart over 40 years ago.

AWKWARD!

Has William become the first to discover Adaline’s secret?

Will Adaline have to retreat and go into hiding once more?

Director Lee Toland Krieger has to team up with the writing duo of J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz to inject a massive amount of emotion into The Age Of Adaline to overcome the ridiculous plot, and almost succeed, until the dreadful, fairy tale-style ending ruins it all. The desire to deliver an audience pleasing conclusion makes the tale even more unbelievable!

Lively does what she can to win over the audience after such a long absence from the screen. She is very good as the somber, mature lady who has survived decades of pain and disappointment, giving Adaline a palpably morose air, which she contrasts well with the excitement and relief the character feels when she decides to open up her heart.

Lively also benefits from having a timeless appearance. She has a classic beauty to fit in with any of the time periods on display, which is paired with the attitude to match it and make Adaline feel real even if she is trapped in a premise that is hard to believe and accept.

Ford isn’t too bad, either. If there ever was a role tempting an actor to give in to his melodramatic impulses, this is the one, but Ford rarely finds himself accused of overacting or chewing the scenery. He shows us William’s pain, shock and fear with an appreciated reservation. The casting director deserves the biggest kudos of anyone associated with The Age Of Adaline.

Sadly, Krieger and the team take too much time to get to the heart of the story. After enduring several scenes where Adaline flashes back to her past to convince us her life has been full of pain, and a few more scenes to prove Adaline loves her pet dog (who is super cute), the conflict you have been aware of after watching one commercial or one trailer for the movie finally emerges to be subsequently rushed even faster (and more furious) than the whirlwind romance between Adaline and Ellis.

Krieger has what it takes to make The Age Of Adaline romantic, dangerous, mystical and magical at all of the right moments, but the story doesn’t know all of the right moments to use those emotions.

With an ending leaving you exclaiming, “Oh Puh-Leeze,” The Age Of Adaline becomes nothing more than forgettable fodder before The Big Blockbuster Summer Movie Season begins.

The Age Of Adaline is rated PG-13 for a suggestive comment.