The Age Of Adaline

Blake Lively makes a proper stab at leading lady status with this high concept flick that sits on the fence between romantic drama and science fiction, but leans a bit more heavily on the former. Made with a surprising amount of visual flair, the sluggish pacing may make it feel twenty minutes longer than it is, but Lively is always watchable.

Lively is the titular Adaline Bowman, a 107 year old woman who doesn't look a damn day over 29. Why, you may ask? Well she was the victim of some extremely strange circumstance, as her car crashed into a lake and said lake was hit by lightening. For reasons far too convoluted to go into here, this renders her ageless, but not immortal you understand - she could still probably die from getting a smack of a bus. I mean, we're guessing. No spoilers here.

Moving back and forth from the present day to decades past, the more complicated parts of Adaline's story are told in narration, which is probably the only way to answer the endless amounts of questions a set up like this poses. Anyhow, she meets a kind, bearded, rich, fellow (Michiel Huisman) who seems like he'd kick his granny in the crotch for a date with her. Naturally, she falls in love; so the pickle then becomes whether or not to tell him that she's actually a geriatric who may have been involved with his old man - Harrison Ford, making an appearance in the final third - in the swinging 60s.

Your enjoyment of Age of Adaline will solely depend on one thing; do you find Nicolas Sparks adaptations gloriously romantic and generally entertaining? Boom. This is right up your alley. While Sparks' had nothing to do with this (it's better than anything that has been produced from his work... low praise), the tone is of a similarly earnest quality.

Lively is an engaging watch, though; elegant, beautiful and at times commanding despite some stoic dialogue and outlandish plot turns that don't so much play on circumstance, more strap it to a reverse bungee cord and launch it into the sky.

Not bad, if forgettable enough stuff