So the fact that this Sunday's 81st Annual Academy Awards has crept up with little to no hype is hardly surprising, nor is the fact that the Academy singled out David Fincher's (of Fight Club fame) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as the Academy Awards' Viva la Vida, bestowing upon the bloated F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation a mind boggling 13 nominations.

From the moment the film hit theaters, Benjamin Button was destined to be an Oscar fron trunner: Sanitized film version of a respectable author's work? Check. One hot half of a Hollywood "It" couple in the title role? Check. Overwrought treatment of a "Big Idea" gripping the youth-obsessed national psyche? Check.

Screenwriters Eric Roth (who won an Oscar for his successful adaptation of Forrest Gump in 1995) and Robin Swicord (responsible for the 1994 adaptation of Little Women) wrote the womanizing and boozing damn near out of Fitzgerald's Benjamin Button, significantly sweetening the novella's sour split between Benjamin and Daisy (the real reason Benny leaves Daisy is because he can't stand her wrinkles and saggy body, not the fear of "Oh my, what will the neighbors think?"). The fruit of their labor is as standard and pedestrian as a McIntosh apple, making Fitzgerald's complex character sympathetic, flat and easier to swallow. Which is good news for Brad Pitt, who, in his middle-age, has the range of a department store mannequin. Best Actor? Pfft.

Aside from being a watered-down version of a stiff cocktail delivered by a lazy bartender, the film as a whole just isn't as strong as the other nominees. Of course, Benjamin Button deserves to win Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects–in the five-minute sequence wherein Button travels the world, the rugged, lank-haired and tanned Pitt looks better then ever–but Best Picture? Button is up against some serious heavyweights in that department. Director Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire has been cleaning up at festivals and various awards shows, while Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon, Gus Van Sant's Milk and Stephen Daldry's The Reader have the "Big Idea" schtick pegged, with a political edge to boot.

AP (via the New York Times) posited the question "'Benjamin Button': Biggest Oscar Loser in the Making?" Here's hoping so.

This afternoon, though, I received a press release announcing the picks of a group Sean Penn may start caring about in another year: AARP, whose magazine's editorial staff votes on what they somewhat condescendingly call the Movies for Grownups Awards.

According to the announcement, the MFGA "have become a consistent bellweather [sic] for each year's subsequent Oscar winners."

Let's hope not. It wouldn't be the worst choice if Frost/Nixon snagged a Best Picture trophy from the Academy as it did from those representing the 50+ set.

But the year films such as Smart People (with two noms) and The Women (three!) are considered for anything besides Movies That Should Have Never Been Released or Actors Who Should Be Ashamed of Themselves, we'll know that Hollywood has truly hit rock bottom.

The AARP victors:

Best Movie: Frost/Nixon
Best Actress 50 and Over: Meryl Streep, Doubt
Best Actor 50 and Over: Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Best Supporting Actor, etc.: Bill Irwin, Rachel Getting Married
Best Supporting Actress: A tie! Christine Baranski and Julie Waters, Mamma Mia!
Best Director: Gus Van Sant, Milk
Best Screenwriter: J. Michael Stracynski, The Changeling
Best Grownup Love Story: Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, Last Chance Harvey
Best Comedy for Grownups: Ghost Town
Best Intergenerational Film: The Visitor
Best Documentary (no age restriction, apparently): Man on Wire
Best Foreign Language Film (ditto): Edge of Heaven
Best Buddy Picture: The Family That Preys
Best Movie for Grownups Who Refuse to Grow Up: Iron Man

Full list of nominees at AARP's site.