The Time Traveler's Wife

Henry has a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel. He cannot control where he goes or when he comes back. Clare Abshire has known Henry since she was six years old and he was an adult; he time traveled into her past because in the present they are married. Clare fell in love with Henry as a result of his time traveling, and yet it is the time traveling that keeps them from being together.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is a confusing concept, but a beautiful romance at heart with an incredibly unique take on time travel. While the film is a lot softer and definitely can’t cover as much as the book I still found it to be touching and a very human story.

The biggest strength of The Time Traveler’s Wife is definitely its leads. Without the strength and talent of Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams the film would fall flat. This film has to cram an incredibly complex and truncated story into such a small period of time that there is no way Robert Schwentke could have made this movie with leads that could so easily pull the audience in to empathize and care for them. McAdams and Bana have a great chemistry together and were incredibly believable as two people incredibly in love with one another.

That being said I was not thrilled with the direction that Robert Schwentke provided. While the film was not badly directed this is a film that could have been played with, stylized and been stamped with more than just the typical breezy direction that a romance movie typically gets. There was nothing about the direction of The Time Traveler’s Wife that stood out and made me want to see more of Schwentke.

I would not buy The Time Traveler’s Wife as I am not a sucker for romantic movies, but I do think that it is going to hit a core audience (especially women) who adore a good romance and definitely be remembered.

Director: Robert Schwentke
Writer: Bruce Joel Rubin
Richard DeTamble: Arliss Howard
Henry DeTamble: Eric Bana
Clare Abshire: Rachel McAdams
Gomez: Ron Livingston
Dr. Kendrick: Stephen Tobolowsky
Alba: Hailey McCann