Tags
Arliss Howard, Drama, Eric Bana, Hailey McCann, Movie, Rachel McAdams, Romance, Ron Livingston, Science Fiction, The Time Traveler's Wife
I can't believe they named the movie after her...I'm the one doing all the time traveling here...
PG-13
Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston, Arliss Howard, Hailey McCann
Clare: Seems that you go back to the same places a lot.
Henry: It’s like gravity…big events pull you in.
Clare: I was a big event.
Henry: So it would seem.
Henry (Bana) is born with a strange genetic condition that causes him to jump around in time without any control over where or when he goes. Clare is the girl who he has been visiting since she was little.
This is a weepy, sappy, saccharine sort of movie, but I must admit that I kind of liked it. Both McAdams and Bana (though he’s a little dull) are likable actors playing likable characters. They have a charming little romance going on, and it was good to see that it didn’t just disintegrate into a bunch of anger and arguing. There’s some of that, but just a realistic amount, not the over-dramatic movie amount that we would usually get.
The problem with the movie is that every moment has too much emotion and importance placed on it. There’s almost constant music playing with the intention of creating heavy drama. When every scene is played like this, it starts to just feel all washed out. It reminded me of how in the Bourne Identity movies there’s so much action that it all starts to cancel itself out. Even the internet research scenes in those movies are filmed with shaky cameras and feature intense music. We need some calm, normal moments so that the action, or in this case, dramatic moments really stand out more.
There are a few confusing moments as far as the time line goes, but that’s true of any movie that delves into the time travel genre. It’s just unavoidable.
Those issues aside, I found it to be a fairly interesting and enjoyable tale. It’s sort of a more realistic view of what it would be like to be an X-Man. Instead a genetic mutation giving you the power to warp through walls or turn invisible, you get stuck jumping through time uncontrollably, with no clothes, wishing you could just stay home with your wife and daughter.
Oh, and why is Arliss Howard playing Eric Bana’s father? That just didn’t work…
Genetic mutations do not always result in awesome superpowers.
10 – 2.5 for being overly dramatic, sappy, earnest – .5 for the confusing, possibly faulty time line issues = 7.0
The Robot Who Likes Pretty Things 
Ron Livingston is in it?! man, have to see it then
he supplies a trace amount of comedy relief, but he’s not in it all that much really.
Eric Bana is so much better when they let him be funny. He was hysterical in “Funny People.”
“The problem with the movie is that every moment has too much emotion and importance placed on it.”
Every moment is pretty damn important when you know you are going to die soon. Don’t you think?
Good review and right in line with my B (7/10)! Woot