DescriptionLose yourself in timeless love with this gloriously romantic story of the journey of two hearts. Artist Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams of The Notebook) shares a deep emotional bond with Henry De Tamble (Eric Bana of The Other Boleyn Girl), a handsome librarian who travels involuntarily through time. Knowing they can be separated without warning, Clare and Henry treasure the moments they have together, imbuing them with the yearning and passion of two people imprisoned by time…and set free by love. Based on the #1 bestseller, The Time Traveler's Wife weaves together destiny and devotion, past and future to turn an extraordinary love into an extraordinary love story. Amazon. comA genuinely old-fashioned Hollywood romance with a science fiction angle, The Time Traveler's Wife stars Eric Bana as Henry DeTamble, a Chicago librarian with a genetic disorder causing him to travel through time involuntarily. The screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin (My Life), based on a novel by Audrey Niffenegger, incorporates some of those crazy paradoxes that are a part of time-travel fiction, but without beating one over the head. Take Henry's introduction to his future wife, Clare (Rachel McAdams), who tells him they've already met even though they haven't actually met. Brain teasers, however, are not what The Time Traveler's Wife is about. In a quite haunting way, the story really concerns what it means to know and love someone at every phase of his or her life. The fact that Henry's life, from Clare's perspective, is hardly linear--he can disappear and turn back up again at different ages--means that she must cherish what is essential about him. Which doesn't mean the couple is immune to periods of unhappiness, including a painful sequence about trying to bear a child--perhaps a child that might also carry the time-traveling gene. While there is nothing particularly exciting stylistically about The Time Traveler's Wife, in many ways it has the simple charms and clear emotions of a 1940s weepie assigned by a studio to one of its journeyman, contract directors. (The film was directed by Flightplan's Robert Schwentke. ) A couple of supporting players, Arliss Howard (as Henry's father) and Ron Livingston (as Henry's friend), provide even more reason to recommend this movie as a satisfying experience. --Tom Keogh
Just what we need. Excuse me, let me just before I get started, this is akin to finding out that your government has been employing a fake flu scare to administer a psychotropic calorie cure trial to the populace. So, great, now we have a film that glorifies deadbeat dads. Nothing better, I say. Why, it sounds more wholesome than a cooking show with teddy bears.
So this guy cheats on his wife, living this whole double-marriage lifestyle, driving the women in his life to, out of some self-destructive Stockholm syndrome death urge, concoct these elaborate fairy-tale fantasies for why hubby’s never home to take care of the kids and bear an equal share of this nonstop carousel of pain and sorrow.
Rating: 1 / 5
If no stars were an option I would have chosen it that. This movie is awful. It is such a downer. I was leary of going after seeing the review in my local paper. ALWAYS go with your gut! What a waste of a date night!
Rating: 1 / 5
I waited months to watch this out of the theater because god forbid deep down I had a nagging feeling that this movie was no where worth the increasing ticket price.
I finally watched it a few days ago and I was very disappointed. I had incredibly high hopes for this movie. I thought it would be magical, filled with good drama and romance and fantastic story. . . .
WOW! Was I wrong or what? I watched it with four other people and a little over halfway through the movie I fell asleep. I waited months for this folks. Months and months to finally watch it on my pc and wow it was completely weak.
The main character, the time traveler. Now how many of you thought he was a big creapo aka pedophile? Some of the scenes in this movie was really weird and makes the main character look like some sort of child stalker. The movie’s storyline was all over the place. I continuously got confused and then when I finally did get it, it was still weird. I hated the story and, though I like the actor in other films, in this one it was just horrible. They really made him seem like some sorta creepy stalker out for little girls.
So out of 4 of my friends, 2 of us thought it was plain horrific and the other two thought it was no better than “ehhhh. . ”
As usual, I go straight for the complaints. The movie was lame and the character development was weak and the storyline had no ultimate purpose to it. This movie had no soul. Will never ever watch again.
Rating: 1 / 5
I enjoyed very much the book on which this movie is based. Reading it, I was able to suspend my disbelief about the plot and just appreciate the touching love affair at the center of the novel.
Unfortunately, the silliness at the heart of the novel was accentuated in the movie and I was unable to suspend my disbelief. Many movies fail to live up to their literary origins but this went a step further — it made me like the book less than I had before seeing the film.
Things that I glossed over in the book — the way the protagonist loses all his clothes whenever he time travels — now seemed ludicrous. The creepy nature of the relationship between the two lovers who meet when he’s a grown man and she’s a little girl, was accentuated by seeing them together on the screen.
The film stays pretty true to the book except in its final scene, but the growing, brooding threat that hung over the latter pages of the book is absent here. There’s something absurd about the way the actors solemnly go through the motions. One doesn’t root for them because the whole situation seems too ridiculous to believe.
Rating: 2 / 5
Based on a novel by Audrey Niffenegger, this sci-fi/romance/drama movie explores the problems a couple experiences when one of them (Henry, played excellently by Eric Bana) disappears without warning for varying periods of time, while Claire (the radiant Rachel McAdams) deals with life and waits for his return.
The thing is, not only is Henry gone, but he’s also gone in time, and the Henry that returns may not be the same age as the Henry who left. To compound it, he has no control over when or where he makes the jump, and his clothes don’t make it, leading to many dangerous and embarrassing situations.
Short attention span summary (SASS):
1. Girl meets boy she’s known all her life for the very first time
2. He doesn’t know her yet
3. Together they try to work it out
Although not exactly a chick-flick, this movie may appeal primarily to female audiences, and it would be a definite plus to read the novel first. The chemistry between the lead characters is wonderful, and the “disappearing” special effect is rather cool.
I thought that the rather complex premise was handled very well, given the fairly short run time, and was impressed by the acting and direction. Not for everybody, but certainly good by me.
Amanda Richards, August 16, 2009
Rating: 4 / 5