Movie Review - The Age of Adaline

The Age of Adaline **½ (out of 5) (PG-13) Perhaps I’m not the most authoritative resource for this romantic fantasy drama. Blake Lively stars as a woman who has remained at age 29 for around 80 years due to a freak occurrence. We see her mostly in our present, keeping a low profile, having regularly switched identities and locales to maintain her secret. Only her daughter (in our time, played by Ellen Burstyn) knows her story, passing as Lively’s granny. Suddenly, an unwanted, yet irresistible, suitor (Michiel Huisman) appears, stirring desires she’d resigned herself to foregoing decades earlier.

Flashbacks and voiceovers from an omniscient narrator fill in the backstory and explain much about her nature and tactics for staying under society’s radar. The premise could have supported a wide range of treatments, from sci-fi farce to mysticism to suspense. The film nestles into a safe middle ground of soft romantic fable, with just enough “explanation” for Lively’s condition to keep the focus on the emotional aspects of her journey. In other words, a chick flick, albeit one that’s well-executed.

Lively is elusively engaging, showing us the perks and problems of such an extended existence. It’s refreshing to get that through the eyes of a regular person, rather than the more common fare about vampires or other supernatural beings. She’s simply a previously-normal human stuck in time without knowing why, or if she will ever age. The plot takes a rather unlikely turn, but ends in a way most members of its target demographic (not old dudes like me) should find satisfying. Lively’s nuanced performance is a significant plus for this film and her career. (4/24/15)