The Time Traveler's Wife

The Time Traveler’s Wife is based on the novel by Audrey Niffenegger, the kind of passionately loved bestseller that Hollywood routinely makes a hash of. For the opening first half hour, the movie lives up to one’s worst fears. It’s a cavalcade of clumsiness, from Henry and Clare’s ineptly staged first meeting to the bad-effects cheesiness of Henry’s disappearances. Frankly, I wanted to walk out. But there’s a reason why readers loved Niffenegger’s book, and I eventually found myself sucked in by the clockwork ingenuity of her plot. It’s every bit as teasing a bit of time banditry as is, say, Memento.

While the movie doesn’t remotely approach the heartrending catharsis it aims for, it’s not for the stars’ want of trying. Both the sweet-faced McAdams and the often-undressed Bana bring utter, unironic conviction to every scene, no matter how silly or soppy (the script’s by Bruce Joel Rubinwho who wrote Ghost). But for Henry and Clare’s love story to transport us, it must be poetic, even magical. Now, there are stylistically daring Hollywood directors who are capable of magic—Gus Van Sant, David Fincher, Paul Thomas Anderson. Sad to say, the list doesn’t include this film’s director, Robert Schwentke, a German whose prize credit is the schlock thriller Flightplan.

I must watch this movie once na inilabas na to sa Pinas. super excited na ko! :)