Movie Review: Age of Adaline

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Age of Adaline


Opens April 24, 2015

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes

Genre: Drama, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Director: Lee Toland Krieger

Starring: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford, Amanda Crew, Ellen Burstyn


Age of Adaline promo poster, Lionsgate

Adaline (Blake Lively) is a lovely woman with a lovely life, but is left due to a series of events 29 years old for 80 years . With time on her side, she is allowed to see more than one could hope for. But at what price?

The cast gave the story the life that it needed. Lively is stunning as she navigates the decades, loves, loses, and wins. She is able to be at once perfectly poised but cautiously guarded. She has come so far from the youthfully manic early days of Serena van der Woodsen, and should be a star for a long time to come. Several times I gasped at just how simply stunning she looked on screen. She and Michiel Huisman (the ever swoonworthy Daario to Game of Thrones fans) have a beautiful chemistry that made you openly root for their story and feel her pain as she keeps her secret. Harrison Ford proved that he is still a Hollywood leading man, and I hope that between this and Star Wars we start seeing him on the big screen more often again.


The cinemtography is a work of art as it bounces through the decades. Not only did the set design and costume design perfectly capture each particular era so poignantly that you don't need to be explained what decade you are now in, but the camera work even reflects these little details. At every turn, the movie is visually transportive.

During the early screening, the audience was just as engaged. At several points through the movie there were group sighs, cheers, and chuckles. Lee Toland Krieger (previously noted for Celeste & Jessie Forever and The Vicious Kind) takes the viewer on the ride he intended.

Overall, Age of Adaline is a hauntingly beautiful story. Personally, I got the ending I was cheering for. I do think it could have taken a braver route, and I do not want to spoil it, but I feel that is one place that could have taken it to the next level. But you are left satisfied, you are left feeling magical. I was captivated the entire two hours and with fewer and fewer projects being able to hold my attention, that is a win in my book.

 KimmayJ  is a thirtysomething Netflix addict who thinks that a good chick flick and some Chinese takeout on a rainy day is basically as good as it gets. Follow her on facebook, instagram, tumblr, pinterest, and twitter!

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