With an omniscient voiceover, supernatural premise and bland romance, The Age of Adaline could be a mash-up of Pushing Daisies and a Nicholas Sparks novel. After a whistle-stop tour of 20th century US history, much of Adaline is disappointingly set in the present, though Lively remains aptly costumed in elegant fashions of days gone by.

Lively and Huisman have only a flicker of chemistry, and frustratingly little time is spent exploring the intriguing role-reversal of Adaline’s relationship with her daughter.

Despite its careful (and obsessively circular) structure, Adaline‘s pacing is sluggish at first, but later speeds through an important conflict.

The plot is both ridiculous and overly convenient, stealing screentime from the deserving thorough period production design. Ford, however, proves he can still do much more than Han Solo.

RATING: 2/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Ellen Burstyn, Harrison Ford

DIRECTOR: Lee Toland Krieger

WRITERS: J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz

SYNOPSIS: A young woman (Lively), born at the turn of the 20th century, is rendered ageless after an accident. After many solitary years, she meets a man who complicates the eternal life she has settled into.