Beautifully designed but...

I agree with you. Several characters speak of her wisdom and worldliness but it just wasn't demonstrated, in fact the opposite. A woman guarding her identity would be more circumspect about answering every Trivial Pursuit question with accuracy. There's also a line when her daughter says words to the effect that "If I looked like you I'd go for a second chance at love." No mother would let that comment slide without reiterating to her daughter how beautiful she is, too--its the most natural thing for a loving mother to do. So what if Ellen Burstyn was visibly much older? Parents always see their children through the eyes of love but Blake Lively's performance was without nuance and couldn't convey this. Better dialogue might have helped. But their mother/daughter relationship was odd throughout the story and not well realized. What did you think of the ending? For me, too Pat and predictable. But yes, it was as you said beautiful to look and I enjoyed the musical score as well.

I loved this movie. I am a hopeless romantic though. I thought the story was believable except the coincidental reunion with William. What a twist! Someone else said it wouldn't have worked if his last name was Muckelshoot or something difficult to forget. But, that was the whole point. I love movies and stories with such plot twists and connections. It makes the life story more real. The guy who plays Ellis, I don't know him as a actor. But, the other actors were well chosen I thought.

I'm just watching it for the first time and I agree. I can't quite put a finger on what made it less than amazing to me. It was beautifully filmed and the attention to detail in the sets and clothing were so gorgeous. But there was something lacking. I think part of it is that there's not a lot of forward movement. It just kind of drifts along being beautiful. They show us that she's very learned after all these years, but I don't think Blake Lively was young and it didn't really make her all that interesting. Maybe it's that she knows all this stuff and has lived so long but we never got to see any of how she learned. It just skipped from the accident to the present. Boring. Also she's going to move but then she just waits around? I can see how she'd want to find some more joy in life.

I can see Ellis catching her eye and all, but her initial reluctance is so easily swept away. She has one meal with him and then spends the night without any hesitation or morning after angst? She only gets upset the next time she sees him because her dog had to be put to sleep and she's upset about losing that. For someone who is very careful about who she is friends with and makes sure to take jobs that aren't flashy and plans to move constantly, she sure doesn't take care or react much to her out of character choices. I think she should have been such an interesting character, with a lot of interesting back story, but we only got to see tiny pieces. And she only saw her daughter once? I don't know why she couldn't have moved with her daughter to AZ or anywhere and been her granddaughter until her daughter passed away? Then she could have moved on again. I don't know. It's just so beautiful but lacking in substance.