- GENRE: Drama, Science Fiction
- ACTORS: Rachel McAdams, Eric Bana, Arliss Howard, Ron Livingston, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jane McLean, Brooklynn Proulx, Alex Ferris, Michelle Nolden, Tatum McCann, Hailey McCann
- RATING: PG-13
- PARENTAL NOTE: Not intended for young children. Brief nudity. Implied pre-marital sex. Although in a time traveling movie, it’s hard to say whether something technically happened before or after the characters were married. Some violence, but nothing extreme.
- INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie has romance, which could please fans of that genre. It has science fiction, which could please those fans. Or it could be just enough of each element to alienate everyone.
- GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) A man travels through time, meeting his wife and his daughter along the way. You get one guess as to whether things will end well in this story line.
- REVIEW: As a general rule, people don’t want to know what lies in their future. Other than the next winning lottery number.1 The concept of time travel is fascinating. The Time Traveler’s Wife actually plays the concept pretty reasonably and realistically–assuming you suspend the laws of nature and physics long enough to accept the concept that time travel is possible. For example, do you remember the campy 1960’s TV show called “The Time Tunnel?” The time traveling leading characters travel through TV time fully clothed. In fact, their clothing appears to be laundered, dry-cleaned and pressed as they bounce uncontrollably through time and space. Not so in The Time Traveler’s Wife. In fact the time traveler in this movie is stripped, and arrives at the end of his time travels completely naked. Too bad he never seems to time travel to his bathtub. I’m not sure this variation on the time traveling theme makes sense. But it does present a twist on the experience. Imagine being uncontrollably thrust into a foreign time and place wearing no clothes whatsoever.
I’ve never seen a time traveling experience end well. And this film is no exception. It seems as though a time traveler ought to be able to avoid his downfall, by taking a little peek into the future, and then avoiding the danger that awaits. It seems like it–but it never quite ends this way.
- RECOMMENDATION: Actually, I liked the film, notwithstanding the “romance” factor mentioned above.2 The film makers obviously put some thought into making the non-sequential elements fit together. The “romance” part of the story line was a bit too sappy for my liking, but I’m sure it would appeal to some.
- RATING (out of 5 stars):
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