Benjamin Gump

Of course it's nice when everybody likes a movie, like Slumdog Millionaire, but what's more fun is when a movie divides people right down the middle. For my money, the biggest love it/hate it movie of 2008 is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which some of you may remember I panned a month ago. Now that it's been out for awhile, many of my friends have come up to me going, "What's wrong with you? That movie is brilliant! Have you no heart?" so I thought it was time to reopen the discussion. But first, a video to (humorously) make clear how true one of my criticisms is: BB is the exact same movie as Forrest Gump (but crappier):



BB supporters, try telling me the two movies don't have the same characters, plot points, and voiceover. And now the rest of my Top 10 Reasons Benjamin Button Sucks:

2. Too long
3. Too slow
4. Benjamin has no character
5. Benjamin's backwards aging rarely poses a major obstacle
6. Nothing drives the movie forward (because Benjamin is so passive)
7. No character beyond Queenie feels remotely genuine
8. The second half of the movie is just "look at how pretty Brad Pitt is"
9. No emotional connection whatsoever
10. Ridiculously overwrought score

But since BB has made over $100 million and will likely be getting a lot of Oscar nominations come Thursday, I'm obviously in the minority here. So what am I missing? Should I give the movie another chance? Or do people just really like looking at Brad Pitt? Let me know in the comments.