After a month of creepy and hair-raising Spooktober reviews, it’s finally time to switch things up. Today I decided I was craving a little bit of romance, so I decided to rewatch The Age of Adaline which is one of my certified guilty pleasures. Starring Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, and Harrison Ford, The Age of Adaline is a romantic fantasy film that honestly centers around a completely unrealistic plot backed by science that doesn’t really make any sense. That being said, for some reason, there’s something about this movie that I absolutely love, leading me to rewatch this one multiple times over the years. Although the film is an easily predictable one that fails to bring significance to its deeper themes, the romantic chemistry between the leads gives me exactly what I want out of a romance drama.

[There will be spoilers in this review; please read at your own discretion]

While a majority of the plot is what you’d expect out of a romance film, the one element that sets The Age of Adaline apart is the fact that the protagonist, Adaline Bowman (played by Lively), is completely frozen in time. Meaning, she got into an accident that stopped her from aging entirely. Now you might be wondering, how can that even be possible? Even after seeing this movie (many times too), I really can’t explain to you how it works. The explanation behind what happens is so confusing and improbable, but if you can get past that and just accept things as if, you’ll be fine. While the negative implications of never aging lead to some interesting conversations about mortality, the movie only slightly dips into that topic and is instead very much more focused on building its relationships.

Thankfully though, that’s probably what you came for anyway! The romance in The Age of Adaline is arguably the best aspect of the film. Lively and Huisman have an electrifying chemistry that feels both authentic and dreamy. As a gentleman that many girls would dream of meeting, Huisman’s character, Ellis, really comes off as Adaline’s knight in shining armour. While their relationship does begin with the stereotypical love at first kind of vibe, it’s honestly what I’m here for. Admittedly, things become a little iffy and strange when you factor in that Adaline once dated Ellis’ father years ago – it’s definitely a weird one to wrap your head around, but it does make for an engaging plot.

While I thought everyone generally put on a great performance in The Age of Adaline, the star is undoubtedly still Blake Lively. I really love what she brought to the character and I found she was able to bring forth this sort of hidden but deep sorrow to her facial expressions and voice that really tied everything together. Given that Adaline was supposed to be alive during an entirely different era, I also thought Lively was able to bring an old-fashioned charm to the character that helped make her situation feel a bit more believable.

One thing I quite like about this film is that the pacing is constantly keeping things moving. Despite not much really happening throughout the film, I’m still able to feel interested in the story because it always feels like we’re heading somewhere. With its nearly 2 hour runtime, it’s impressive to me that The Age of Adaline doesn’t feel that long – I guess it’s a testament to good plot progression and pacing!

I don’t often hear many people talking about this film, so if you haven’t seen it and you love a good romance film, I would love to recommend you The Age of Adaline. While the story isn’t wildly imaginative or inventive, the addition of an un-aging protagonist really does spice things up and makes thing a bit more interesting. The heart of the film is really about the beautiful relationship being built between Adaline and Ellis, and their chemistry is enough to make your heart swoon. As a guilty pleasure watch of mine, I’m going to give The Age of Adaline a 7.5/10. While I’m aware my score is a bit higher than what I’m assuming other people rate this movie, I just get so much enjoyment out of this film that I had to give a rating that reflected that.