Review of The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) by Barbara D — 09 Apr 2011

I never thought I'd be giving a film that was based on a critically acclaimed novel two stars, but not doing so would be dishonest. Before I saw it, I knew that it got mixed to negative reviews, but some part of me thought that it would at least be decent because after all, the premise is a departure from the classic romance story, and the book got good reviews. Surely something based on a great book couldn't be bad, right? Think again.

The film focuses on Henry, a man who has a rare biological disorder that causes him to time travel against his own will. The only thing that keeps him coming back to the same places are truly big events and in this case, it's a woman called Clare who he got to know through his traveling. They fall in love and marry, but they struggle to maintain their marriage as Henry constantly keeps disappearing.

This should've been good. It's kind of like that episode of 'Doctor Who' called 'The Girl in the Fireplace', except it's longer. That episode has a similar premise, but it works because it is a sci-fi. Funnily enough, the premise of 'The Time Traveler's Wife,' made a lot less sense than I thought it would and the primary reason is that unlike 'Doctor Who' which answers the questions that the viewer asks, this story leads to an infinite number of plot holes. So Henry has a rare biological disorder. Why is it that his doctor never told the world about it so that other scientists could try to find a cure? How is it that nobody else notices that he has that illness? If he keeps disappearing, what's going to happen to his job? How can he maintain his life without the government finding out? What about his finances and his status as an American citizen? He needs to exist on paper because every person has a birth certificate, tax records, a social security number (since it's American) and medical records. Speaking of medical records, what the hell is it going to say on his medical records regarding his illness? In 'Doctor Who', this works because the Doctor is an alien, but Henry is a human, and humans have special requirements from the government. The biggest flaw with this story is that his time traveling is caused by an illness and we're never, ever explained how it works and why it exists. One of the most important parts of speculative fiction is the suspension of disbelief. You're not supposed to question magic if it's a fantasy or science if it's a sci-fi, but in 'The Time Traveler's Wife', it's impossible not to question everything if the time travel is caused by an illness. It doesn't even try to make sense. This should've been a sci-fi or better yet, it would've worked if Henry were cursed, or maybe if he weren't a human. It would've worked if Henry didn't exist according to the government. That way we would've at least believed it!

Apart from the problems with the premise, the casting was also an issue. Eric Bana was surprisingly bland as Henry, which also makes us quesiton why Clare is so in love with him. Rachel McAdams was also dull, which pains me to say because I love her as an actress. All of her crying scenes come off as artificial and I don't buy for one second that she is truly hurt by her misfortune. I haven't read the book, but apparently their characters were much more different in the book, especially Henry. I did actually like their daughter Alba though. She seemed to be the most interesting character and she only came into the film much later.

I should note that adapting novels into films is never an easy task because some things work in specific mediums, but not others. Novels tend to be much more complex and detailed, so for all I know, all of the annoying questions I had were answered in the book. The funny thing is that the premise does actually sound interesting, but as soon as you try to put logic into something that is impossible to believe, it all falls apart.