The Time Traveler's Wife
(2009)Clare (Rachel McAdams) has been in love with Henry (Eric Bana) her entire life. She believes they are destined to be together, even though she never knows when they will be separated: because Henry is a cheeky time traveler - cursed with a rare genetic anomaly that causes him to live his life on a shifting timeline, skipping back and forth through the years with no control. Despite the fact that Henry's travels force them apart with no warning, and never knowing when they will be reunited, Clare desperately tries to build a life with her true love
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Directed by Robert Schwentke
Starring Rachel McAdams, Eric Bana, Ron Livingston, Brooklynn Proulx, Arliss Howard, Stephen Tobolowsky
Written by Bruce Joel Rubin (based on the novel by Audrey Niffenegger)
Flicks Review
BY Rebecca Barry Hill Flicks Writer
The problem with time-travel in movies is it’s all too easily manipulated to meet the filmmakers’ ends. In this sappy romantic drama it’s stretched beyond belief. It's not always clear if Eric Bana’s character, Henry knows what the hell is going on when he turns up in another time with no clothes on. In one confusing scene his future wife – or should that be past wife? – can’t understand why he doesn’t recognise her. Neither will the audience in this confusing adaptation that will either leave you drying your eyes or gagging for a bucket.... More
With Rachel McAdams as Bana’s simpering spouse, Clare, viewers can expect a product gooier than her other old-fashioned tear-jerker, The Notebook. Only this is rife with cliches. Why else do they sneak inside a TV shop to watch the Lotto numbers roll in?
The only way to attempt to enjoy it is to suspend disbelief and get swept along in the love story. But even then you’ll be worried for the young Clare, who at the age of 6, encounters a naked man in the bushes and promptly declares her life-long devotion.
Even the usually reliable Bana struggles with the false dialogue and fake hair; McAdams is so lovestruck you’ll want to lock her in a Tardis and whisk her back in time to before she was delivered the script.Hide
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The Time Traveler's Wife
I really enjoyed this movie, found it very thought provoking. I haven't read the book so I was probably able to be impartial. Well worth seeing (video). Just lovely!
i haven't read the book, but thought this was pretty good and didn't have any problems following the plot. i found it very moving, and enjoyed watching the beautiful mcadams as clare (although she was a little bit too gaga over henry at first - thank goodness that didn't last!). eric bana was pretty good for him. on the whole, not terribly thought-provoking but hey it is only a movie...
BY Wice superstar
This movie just seemed to skim over the novel's content. More interesting bits might have been included if a some of the endless kissing scenes were cut. I have no idea how people who were unfamiliar with the story could have followed it. It needed a lot more depth to involve the audience. The book was absorbing but this... More movie adaptaion was simply too much sap dribbling down the screen. Plain disappointing :-(Hide
BY Gemma-Wood nobody
I too have read this book multiple times. Two great actors but I really don't think they grasped the emotion and journey that was in the book. The movie seemed to fast forward through the storyline, missing huge chunks along the way including Henry's depression. If it didn't have two big (ish) names it would have been even worse. Like Claire said above, read the book and skip the movie.
Ive watched a decent amount of movies and in my
mind the flicks reviewer was being overly
generous with 2 stars.I havent read the book,
but couldnt imagine the author was at all
impressed by the screenplay!.
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The Press Reviews
37%
of critics recommend.
Rotten Tomatoes Score. More reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
The warmth of the actors makes it surprisingly tender, considering the premise that is blatantly absurd. If you allow yourself to think for one moment of the paradoxes, contradictions and logical difficulties involved, you will be lost. The movie supports no objective thought. Full Review
Competent and well-cast, but it crams too much into the runtime and loses the elegance of the novel. Full Review
German-born director Robert Schwentke ("Flightplan") keep things moving briskly enough so that the leaps in time mostly obscure the leaps in logic. Full Review
The Time Traveller's Wife may not be particularly intelligent but it delivers some loveable characters, who should deliver the warm fuzzies, if not tears. Full Review
I'd watch the vibrant Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana in anything, but The Time Traveler's Wife is pushing it. Full Review
May not make a lick of sense, but it does make for fairly irresistible nonsense. Full Review
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