YMMV / The Age of Adaline

• Alternative Character Interpretation: How badly is Adaline affected by the loss of her husband? Is her refusal to commit to anyone more motivated by that and the age issue is just an excuse?
• Angst? What Angst?:
  • We never see Flemming display any kind of angst over the fact that her mother never ages and she still grows old. What's more is that Adaline had to run away when Flemming was still quite young and there's no animosity between them after this. Of course, Flemming is now in her eighties so it's possible there was animosity but they resolved it years ago.
  • In a similar vein when Adaline tells Ellis the truth towards the end, he's apparently processed it and become okay with it by the time Flemming arrives at the hospital.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Ellis. Some find him cute and like his persistence. Others find that he goes a little overboard in trying to track Adaline down. He's either a passionate romantic who convinces her to love again, or else he's a creepy stalker who doesn't respect her boundaries.
  • The narrator. Some find him unnecessary, while others don't mind him so much.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Flemming due to Ellen Burstyn's Cool Old Lady portrayal of her. The fact that she encourages her mother to still live endears her to viewers.
  • Anthony Ingruber as the younger William has also become extremely popular for elevating Separated-at-Birth Casting to an art form. Cue fans clamoring for him to be cast as a young Han Solo.
• Funny Moments:
  • Flemming gets a good one in.
    Adaline: It's just not the same when there's no future.
    Flemming: What you talking about? You got nothing but future.
  • Adaline's Sherlock Scan of a man attempting to hit on her blind friend. She guesses that he's a painter from a wealthy family - judging by the vintage watch he's wearing that was clearly a hand-me-down from a "well-to-do grandfather."
    Dale: Great grandfather actually. But how did you know I paint?
    beat
    Adaline: Your hands are covered in paint.
• He Really Can Act : This is regarded as the film that truly showed that Blake Lively would not just be a Ms. Fanservice, and that she was distancing herself from Gossip Girl. She had gone against type in The Town and Hick but this proved that it wasn't a fluke. Many critics cited it as the best work of her career up to that point.
• I Knew It!: Quite a few people had guessed that Harrison Ford's character would turn out to be not only an old boyfriend of Adaline but also know Ellis in some way.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Blake Lively's performance is considered by some the only reason to watch the movie.
  • Alternately Anthony Ingruber doing a killer Harrison Ford impression.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Anthony Ingruber only has about two scenes as the younger William but is very memorable with his spot-on imitation of Harrison Ford's voice and mannerisms. His voice impression actually fooled a lot of critics into thinking Harrison had dubbed over his younger self too.
  • Lynda Boyd only appears towards the early part of the film as Adaline's blind friend Regan. She delivers a nicely subtle performance of a blind woman, and is also hilarious snarky towards the man who tries to hit on her.
    "I know we don't look a day over twenty-eight. You're too kind."
• Questionable Casting: Michiel Huisman is viewed as the weak link in the cast, and makes Ellis seem like a hormonal stalker rather than a passionate romantic. Blake Lively has far more chemistry with Anthony Ingruber - who she only has two scenes with - than him.
• Stoic Woobie: Adaline remains very composed and dignified for most of the story, despite how lonely and tragic her life has been. She lost her husband at a young age and then had to eventually go into hiding to avoid being experimented on by the government. She's remained pretty much alone for sixty plus years, with only her daughter and the occasional lover like William.
• Strangled by the Red String: Ellis goes on one date with Adaline and reacts to her wanting to move away as if they're an item. He takes her to meet his parents for a weekend, and confesses that he's fallen in love with her when they still barely know each other.
• Tear Jerker: The death of Adaline's pet dog. It's the only time we really see her break. She then sadly puts a picture of the dog into a scrapbook, where we see pictures of the other dogs she's had in her life.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Nothing much comes of William finding out that Adaline is immortal, though since he's moved on from her and has long settled into a happy and full marriage to Kathy there's not much baggage to unpack on that front.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Kathy getting annoyed with the way William talks about Adaline. She's getting annoyed at him for talking wistfully about a woman he used to know - implying he had an old girlfriend she never knew about. She gets jealous because he's reminiscing about a woman who he has just found out died years ago (or is led to believe so anyway). The implication seems to be that she's annoyed she wasn't his only relationship and their wedding anniversary should be all about her. William rightfully reminds her of the fact that he's been married to her for forty years, so her getting jealous of an ex-girlfriend is very petty.
  • Ellis likewise goes incredibly overboard in trying to get a date from Adaline. She very obviously says no several times and he pretty much blackmails her - playfully but still - into going out. After he gets no response from her on the second date, he also gets very obsessive in trying to track her down. The movie frames it as him being persistent in breaking Adaline out of her shell, but it looks more like a case of him simply not getting that no means no.

---