The well promoted movie, The Time Traveler’s Wife, was not as seamless as the previews would have us believe.
Mia says don't waste your time on this one! ★★☆☆☆
The Time Traveler’s Wife was advertised to be a charming movie, a movie almost as good as The Notebook, since Rachel McAdams was the lead actress. But like most disappointing movies, the only enjoyable bits can be seen in the previews. Even though the word on the street was that the movie was a stinker, I still tried to keep a positive attitude, but the film was a complete challenge to watch and understand. The plot/time changes, the dramatic fade-outs and fade-ins, the boring background music and mediocre acting were all factors in the demise of the time…
Not only was the movie confusing and distracting, but the plot was also a tad disturbing. The story follows a man named Henry (Eric Bana, Funny People), who magically travels through time and revisits familiar locations. Henry is encountered by a young college student who seems to know who he is, but because Henry hasn’t traveled back in time to meet her yet, he has no idea who this woman is. And to make things even more confusing, Henry travels through time nude. He is incapable of traveling with the clothes he wears, so each time he is sent to a different location, he arrives completely naked. So when Henry travels to meet this unfamiliar woman, he befriends her when she is only six years old, while he was nude behind a bush. He learns that Clare (Rachel McAdams, Mean Girls) has met him several times before, but Henry only began to visit her when he was older. If that was confusing, then you are following along as well as any other confused ticket holder in the theater.
The confusing plot never seemed to settle down, as the frequent time and age changes – instead of the plot – dominated my attention. The most disturbing scene was when Henry and Clare saw Henry on the floor with a bleeding bullet wound on his bare body. Yes, Henry saw himself, sees himself, and actually encounters himself many times during the movie. The bleeding wound and screaming sounds that Henry made almost scared me out of my seat since the movie had never been this suspenseful before, but the excitement ended there.
The acting was mediocre, not up to the standards that the fans expect. McAdam’s attempt to be a sweet, innocent and optimistic young girl was acceptable, but it lacked passion and devotion. She kept smiling and making awkward laughs, again very distracting. She was nothing like Ally, from The Notebook; in this movie she was a just annoying. Bana’s acting was very disappointing, almost as lackluster performance, as in the new Star Trek Movie. He did not convey any confused emotion; to him time traveling was completely natural. He had been doing it his whole life, but his emotion shouldn’t have been that organic. I mean, you’re time traveling. Act surprised!
One thing in The Time Traveler’s Wife that was similar to The Notebook, was the romance. Both Henry and Clare are crazy about each other, and we can tell that Clare is in complete love with him, since she waits weeks, at times months, for him to arrive back from wherever he goes. But one important thing the movie lacked was the connection that Ally and Noah had in The Notebook. Maybe this was because Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gossling actually dated in real life after making the The Notebook.
The Time Traveler’s Wife was an interesting disappointment. The confusion, the distractions, and of course the disturbing nature of the entire time traveling deal was painful, but almost fun to watch. It wasn’t a terrible movie, but it definitely was not a great one either. If the viewer’s taste is for a confusing, sci-fi, thriller except not, romantic mess of a story, then this movie is for you. But for the rest of us who have a more discerning palette and would like to get our money’s worth, The Time Traveler’s Wife is a movie that can be skipped.
★★☆☆☆
