Empty Shoes ~ A Movie Review of ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’

Perhaps I’m getting softer with age, it is quite possible because my friend who usually loves romance films hated ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ while I walked out of the theater being enchanted by the story.  Usually I despise romantic movies and avoid them like some mass media warned pandemic, but I was sold on this film when I saw Rachel McAdams on ‘The Daily Show’ making a muddle of her interview with Jon Stewart.  She said just enough, while giving away most of the plot, that I thought the flick would be worth my time.  Is it sappy? You bet.  Is it the type of love story that has never been told before?  Yes in a good way, and no in a predictable ‘Love Story’ sort of vein.

 

                Based on the 2003 novel by Audrey Niffenegger of the same name, the story revolves around Henry (Eric Bana) who has a genetic disorder that causes him to travel through time.  He first meets Clare (McAdams) while he is working as a librarian and she recognizes him although he has no idea who she is.  She tells him that she knows about his condition, which not only causes him to vanish but to reappear at some other time without a stitch of clothing.  Thus it is safe to say that consistent relationships aren’t really his thing, ergo he finds it amazing that someone is able to accept him as he is. 

 

                My friend thought the time traveling premise didn’t fulfill the criteria for proper suspension of disbelief, but I thought it did.  After all, he does go to a doctor who wins some big medical science prize for the discovery of the condition, but overall I think it is the chemistry between the both likeable McAdams and Bana that really makes this movie work for me.  The time traveling element changes this romance movie from being just another run of the mill romantic flick to being something that transcends the genre…or not in the case of my friend.  I really didn’t mind that Bana would sometimes have conversations with younger or older versions of himself or that he meets his future wife when she is just a child having a picnic by herself (okay that might be pushing the suspension of disbelief a bit because most children don’t pack picnics for themselves). 

 

                ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ isn’t necessarily a film one must rush out to see.  It will make for a good DVD viewing or cable.  I give it a precious pink manicured thumbs up.    

 

 

Westerfield © 2009