Yes, I found some enjoyment in The Time Traveler’s Wife. No, I didn’t mind the fact it depended on my acceptance of a little girl’s (slightly creepy) friendship with a naked man that suddenly appears in the woods only to disappear seconds later. After all, it’s called The Time Traveler’s Wife and considering a little girl’s love for the mysterious naked man from the woods is the only real hurdle I had to jump over (outside of time travel of course), I found myself accepting the film’s premise, the story it served and by the time it came to an end I got caught up in the romance. Shame on me, I know, but it’s the truth.
Henry (Eric Bana) suffers from a genetic infliction that causes him to spontaneously travel in time. He could end up in the past or the future, there’s no telling, but oftentimes he does return to some of the same spots. One such spot is a meadow where he meets Clare (Rachel McAdams) at a young age, and knowing how things turn out in the future he gives her clues as to when he’ll be back again. The two eventually get married and the film follows the complications Henry’s predicament causes in their lives.
The Time Traveler’s Wife does have its problems, first of which is the up and down acting of Bana and McAdams. Whenever Bana is acting opposite a younger Clare (Brooklynn Proulx) his performance seems stunted and his words don’t come off as natural adding slightly to the creepy factor. If Bana doesn’t seem comfortable with the scene, how can we? McAdams’ performance is equally unbalanced, while at times tender, other times she’s just going through the motions. However, when necessary, the two leads pull it together and manage to create a believable relationship that never wallows too deep in the melodrama.
Even the script by Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost) never gets too sappy, which is often the demise of a romantic drama of this ilk – I point to The Notebook as the pinnacle romantic disaster. The story relies very little on convincing you of the science of it all. Henry can travel through time… deal with it. After all, if the film is wasting its time trying to explain the science behind Henry’s ability to time travel the movie doesn’t stand a chance. Therefore, if you are wondering how he does it, the answer is simple: He just can.
The story establishes the rules immediately and they’re quite easy to understand; Henry spontaneously travels through time and whenever he gets to where he’s going a pile of clothes will be found where he was and he will be naked wherever he arrives. What happens next is a mad dash of thievery, breaking-and-entering and 100-yard sprints. Director Robert Schwentke’s only concern is making sure the audience isn’t too worried with how Henry manages to pull all this off, and is instead thinking about Clare back home, not knowing when her husband will rematerialize? After all, this is The Time Traveler’s Wife, not The Time Traveling Husband.
Of course, I couldn’t help but wonder how Henry could manage to stay so upbeat and enthused when any minute he could be in an alleyway fighting for his life. But that’s why this film isn’t getting an “A” from me. There does come a point where the fact his love for Clare was just not enough to convince me he can push aside everything that happens to him and what he’s seen and knows and vice-versa. This is also why I don’t tend to see too many movies of this kind and was happy this one didn’t fully disappoint.
While it’s not a movie that will have you shouting from the rooftops, you’d be hard-pressed to hate this movie with any real passion. The film’s third act is very well done and the fact it completely accepts that Henry can travel through time with very little explanation allows the audience to do so as well, just in time to get something out of what the film has to offer.
