The Age of Adaline

Lively is a radiant actress, and she's so lovely in her period gowns that it's easy to forgive some of the movie's many shortcomings because of her on-screen presence. Despite her charm and the movie's interesting premise of a woman who doesn't age, the execution is far from magical. First, there's a terribly heavy-handed narrator who tries to make the movie's magical realism elements sound scientific, when they would have been better left unexplained. Plus, there just isn't much of anything happening for most of the movie -- until 70 minutes in, when Jenny finally meets Ellis' parents and discovers his father is a former lover she abandoned. At least the inimitable Ellen Burstyn is on hand to play Adaline's elderly daughter, Flemming, adding much-needed humor to the far-too-serious proceedings.

Besides Flemming, Ford's William is one of the only interesting characters in the story. His relationship with Jenny/Adaline in the present and the past (in the earlier scenes, the character is played by Anthony Ingruber, who even sounds like Ford) is more compelling than the supposedly epic romance between Jenny and Ellis. And that's the main problem with the movie. Ellis and Jenny don't have the kind of swoon-worthy chemistry that the concept requires to make the love story work. And while the costume designer deserves kudos for Adaline's frequent decade-appropriate outfit changes, the script and plot are underwhelming.