MovieChat Forums > The Age of Adaline (2015) Discussion > Things that would have made this movie b...

Things that would have made this movie better?

posted 10 years ago by RollingInTheAngst
62 replies | jump to latest

I felt like it was too empty.

I wanted to see MORE struggle with her not aging. I felt like she should have had at least two kids and one of them should have died.

Also, her past relationships should have been explored more and gone into greater detail.

Plus, the narration of the movie was interesting, but I felt like the narrator's voice was too authoritative and should have been more casual yet professional instead of textbook. Also, she never changed personality wise. If you're the same age for so many years, I doubt you would stay the exact same. She seemed classy which was fine, but she had no humor and was almost TOO classy, if that makes sense?

Thoughts?

[–] rui-ribeiro-327-319884 10 years ago

The film seems a tad empty really compared to others of the same genre. Too fast paced Hollywood style, I guess. If one thing got up to my nerves was the narrator talking about pseudo-science. We could really had been spared for that, and it adds nothing for the movie.

[–] MSUstar 10 years ago

The narrator was not a good touch. Neither was the fact that this basically dude stalked her. Such a turn off. I understand her response completely. As someone who was stalked briefly by a guy I went out on a date with twice I find it scary that Hollywood romanticizes this kind of behavior.

Arranging to be at the same party as she was, ok that's fine. Taking the elevator down with her and flirting.. persistent and not terrible. Showing up to her job...over the line. Then threatening not to donate valuable books to her library unless she went on a date with him...I couldn't tell if he was just being silly, but if he wasn't...creepy. But showing up at her house after she said she would call him by using his power of being a board member to get her address...way too far. Creepy, not romantic and stalkerish. No thanks!

[–] angelblueqt 10 years ago

I would have liked it more if they showed her in the past. They rushed past that in the first few minutes.

Trolls Need Not Apply

[–] jonaloin 10 years ago

I could have done without the Ellis character.I was more interested in her dealing with the aging of Fleming, and also maybe William finding her many years later and them reconnecting (or maybe not) since so many years have passed.

The whole push-pull love story is overdone. Even worse was the convenient and predictable happy ending. Car crash to cause the problem, and another car crash to undo it. Very uninspiring.

Also, I was wondering whether although she doesn't age, does it mean her mind or likes or personality do not change? It seems odd for a hundred years old woman to fall for a fairly young guy who acts his age.

[–] siakoonsiew-277-73876 8 years ago

I was more interested in her dealing with the aging of Fleming,

They really rushed through that. There was no emotion from Adaline when Fleming told her she was not getting any younger and might have to go to a retirement home.

I wanted the movie to show more the irony of an aging daughter and youthful mother. I actually thought Fleming was going to die halfway through the movie.

[–] siakoonsiew-277-73876 8 years ago

I agree. I wanted to see more what she was like before the first accident. As it was, her personality seemed to stay the same for 100 years.

[–] elliest_5 10 years ago

This has got to be a very rare occasion of a thread where most posters actually agree about a film!

I agree with everything that I've read in here: not enough drama, not enough character development. What's more, we were supposed to be rooting for this amazing romance between Adaline and Ellis, but just as it started developing we meet the dad and what seemed to be a far more interesting love story.

~*~

[–] ciganita 9 years ago

I soo agree!! And it´s frustrating right cause the movie has such great potential to be one of the best romantic/dramas/fantasies! I`m good with the cast choices and I really think Harrison Ford is brilliant, B R I L L I A N T! The emotional depth was there just to be explored further! But just how the story went through was not engaging enough! William and Adaline had something special (chemistry+history) that Adaline and Ellis didn´t have. Why did she feel attracted to Ellis to begin with? Wasn´t it cause Ellis had his fathers gene and he subconsciously reminded her of William?! I mean of course I respect the whole honorable marriage William had going on but Adaline and Williams relationship was there to be explored and be the front center of this movie besides the foreveryoungstruggle she was going through, daaamn,..

[–] momsabeach 10 years ago

I would have liked it better with a different leading man. The actor playing Ellis was blah. I felt the movie spent more time with Harrison Ford's wife not knowing about Adaline than necessary. AND BTW, married 40 years and never mentioned her?? C'mon!!!

A daffy woman constantly strives to become a star.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (6398) a year ago

You wouldn't want the Ellis character to take over the movie though. If you got a bigger name actor that might have happened. Also, it's not easy to compete with Harrison Ford.

Maybe the Ford character never mentioned Adaline because he knew his wife was the jealous type.

[–] fvazquez-1 10 years ago

I hated the narrator voice, did this film needed that??

[–] mpatt670214 10 years ago

after she met with second accident, the story is so predictable and boring.Just like children story of happily living ever after.

[–] ieva-schumann 9 years ago

I agree with you on the general emptiness of this movie.
I was not able to feel for the characters and felt really bored, although I love sci-fi, love stories, mystery etc.

[–] xavlexav 9 years ago

My own two cents:

The main problem was the structure of the screenplay. Not the concept, the actors, the music or the direction which were all really good. Just the structure

A great movie traditionally has :
ACT I Setup 20min
ACT II Confrontation 60 min
ACT III Resolution 20 min

Here we have :

ACT I Setup 60 min
ACT II Confrontation (when she meets her old love) 20 min
ACT III Resolution (when he discovers who she really is and she decides to runaway) 20 min

I've never seen such a long exposition in a movie and what we'd really like is to enjoy this ACT II situation ( Harrison Ford remembering his old love in front of his wife is a wonderful tragical/comical scene full of promises)

IMHO, we were very close of a really great movie, but i found it very enjoyable.

[–] 9 years ago

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