Went with a friend to see this, and we were both disappointed by it.  I personally felt like I might have been misled by the trailer, but in hindsight, perhaps I should have taken it at face value.

The story looked like it could have been interesting enough.  I was surprised that it wasn’t based off a book or anything—I feel like that’s Hollywood’s go-to lately, along with countless remakes and sequels.  Funny enough, after watching this, I feel like the story might have been more interesting in a book, where there’s more room to flesh out the details.

I’m not entirely sure I agree with how the movie was paced.  I realize they were trying to show her living through multiple lifetimes, but we were never given enough time in any one place, nor were the characters Adaline fell in love with given much substance to really allow for much investment.  I think it would have been nice to see the backstories of Adaline and her previous lovers more fleshed out, and I think it’s a shame that so much time was spent on just the one relationship between Blake Lively’s character and Michael Huisman, which kind of made it feel like we had to like the two of them together.  Despite that being the point, I thought that the chemistry between Lively and Huisman was debatable, and I think I felt more between Lively and Anthony Ingruber, or even with Harrison Ford.  (As strange as that may sound.)

I will say that I thought Lively, Ford, and Ellen Burstyn did a great job in their respective roles in this movie.  Lively did give off the feel that she was much older than she appeared, and I was convinced with Burstyn as the role of her naturally aging daughter.  Ford was also quite believable in his role, even though I think there was little that he was given to build upon.

The movie at times gave me a similar feeling like when I watched Colin Farrell’s Winter’s Tale (2014).  I think the movies share a lot of similarities in theme and tone, although I think the pacing in Winter’s Tale might have been slightly better, but only just.

Final Thoughts: Though I did appreciate some of the acting, I did end up walking away from the movie feeling as if I’d wasted a bit of my time.  Perhaps this is suited for a rental, but I don’t think one would miss much by skipping it.