The Time Traveller's Wife

Intriguing, if schmaltzy, adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 bestseller, first off; I've not read the book thus don't have the literary touchstone from which to draw comparisons. But as a standalone film; 'The Time Traveller's Wife' is an entertaining and well paced romantic sci-fi, albeit with the emphasis on romance rather than sci-fi: More 'Meet Joe Black' and 'Big Fish' than 'Back To The Future' or 'Frequency' whilst some may also liken it's time-shift age gap themes to 'The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button' (Brad Pitt was once set to star but opts for a producer's credit instead). Henry (a blank but believable Eric Bana) is the time traveller, Clare (Rachel McAdams) is his wife; they've met at various points in time at different ages, are desperately in love and struggle to meet the challenges of Henry's fantastic, if uncontrollable, ability.

Now they're using 'The Terminator' method of time travel here, the one that rudely robs the passenger of all their clothes, and no; gentlemen, Rachel McAdams doesn't get to time travel in this movie so forget about it! It's actually quite a rubbish power, as anything could trigger it off and away Henry goes; bouncing through time in the nude unable to change anything but constantly struggling to avoid hypothermia or slumming it for some threads. Director Robert Schwentke, whose previous efforts include forgettable action thriller 'Flight Plan', keeps the movie on course but decides to rush things towards the end, it also seems as if editor Thom Noble went cut happy on the 'Avid' and deleted a little too much footage which is often a no-win situation: For on one hand it ups the pace, which is good, but in doing so you lose potential character development. Personally, I felt they were holding back; I'd like to see 'TTTW' remade by Davids Lynch or Cronenberg and starring Jeremy Irons or Daniel Day Lewis, for this film didn't explore all the potentially disturbing and interesting possibilities that could arise from such a power. Bana and McAdams make a convincing onscreen couple and their journey is similar to the one taken by Robin Williams and Annabella Sciorra's characters in 'What Dreams May Come'. 'The Time Traveller's Wife' is by no means a classic and I doubt I'll see it again, but the ladies will weep, the lads will occasionally glance at their watches though no one ought to be offended or bored for there's nothing terribly wrong with this movie at all, that said, there's nothing particularly great about it either. Worth watching for its commendably old-fashioned love story, a small role by the legend that is Ron 'Office Space' Livingston and some genuinely good, mind-bending narrative twists. Not bad, could've been better.