“The Age of Adaline” is a decently made film that features warm performances, but I wish it was more than it was capable of being. However, based on the charm and sweetness, this film is just passable enough to recommend.
Blake Lively stars as Adaline Bowman, a young woman who gets involved in a car accident and is struck by lightning, which causes her to never age past 29. As the decades progress, she watches everyone around her age normally including her daughter (Ellen Burstyn).
Adaline’s secret keeps her from having any kind of a relationship for fear that someone might find out her secret. However, that all changes when she falls in love with a young man (Michiel Huisman). The two instantly fall for one another, and he brings her home to meet his folks (Harrison Ford and Kathy Baker). The dad soon suspects that he might’ve met Adaline long ago.
“The Age of Adaline” has a nice “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”-esque premise, but it’s not nearly as epic or involving as that film is. A sci-fi-type of explanation for Adaline’s eternal youth is introduced, but it’s too overshadowed by a somewhat-scattered internal logic and a narration that would seem right at home on a made-for-TV documentary.
Having said that, I recommend it on the basis of the performances of its great cast. Even though I felt the story was somewhat murky and not really working the way it should, I was drawn in by the actors and their attempts to elevate the material. Not to mention, it is a better and more-believable love story than “The Longest Ride.”
Grade: B
Rated PG-13 for a suggestive moment.

Hall is a syndicated columnist in South Georgia.