The Age of Adaline (PG) ****

The Age of Adaline

Timeless!

Hopeful love is something we all cling to. Able to navigate that tricky course is the “heroine” of The Age of Adaline. Smart and original this new release from EOne Entertainment is a full blown romantic soap opera. Skilful acting indeed can be found at The Fifth Avenue Cinemas should you be smart enough and decide to take in this 113 minute movie.

Affairs of the heart can be trying. Throw in a medical dilemma and things can go decidedly off course. Take the case of one Adaline. Blake Lively is downright lively (and that’s a good thing) as a jaded socialite of sorts. Caught up in a time warm the once upon a time Adaline Bowman has the unusual dilemma (?) of not being able to age properly. Think the opposite of Brad Pitt’s Benjamin Button and you get the picture.

Close calls abound for this damsel in a lot of distress as she valiantly tries to keep her identity and medical condition private. Stresses naturally come into play as do a host of close calls and missed opportunities. Smart story telling fleshes out this woman’s eventful life as we span the decades. Aided and abetted by classic newsreel footage and consummate acting you end up having considerable feelings for not only our leading lady’s life but all those who become a part of it – willingly or not.

Fleeting moments can come back to haunt you. While this film goes back and forth smoothly in time it’s most touching moments are the lovers and family members that bookend a life lived. Lovers collide with an unusual male showdown (?) between aging wonder Harrison Ford (Raiders of the Lost Ark) and handsome Michiel Huisman (World War Z). Even graceful Ellen Burstyn turns in a good turn as a pivotal part of Adaline’s heritage.

Hearts have been known to have been left in San Francisco and The Age of Adaline continues this fine tradition. Director Lee Toland Krieger does a good job in pulling on all the right strings to reel you into this moody romance by the bay that’s poignantly shrouded in nostalgia, history and hope.

By Robert Waldman