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The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

Director: Robert Schwentke

Time Out rating

Average user rating

26 reviews

Synopsis

The sweepingly romantic tale of a man (Eric Bana) unstuck in time, and his passionate, non-sequential affair with a beautiful artist (Rachel MacAdams).

Movie review

From Time Out London

Eric Bana stars in this no-heartstring-left-unmolested adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s bestselling book about a gentleman cursed with the ability to slip randomly through the decades. This nasty habit of disappearing willy-nilly between past, present and future doesn’t stop him from hooking up with his soulmate (Rachel McAdams), whom he first meets as a six-year-old girl and eventually marries. In between her delivery of exposition-chunky dialogue and his various post-travelling reappearances in the buff (Bana fans: there will be buns), audiences are given ample opportunities to swoon over a romance that defies eras, age ranges and every semblance of narrative logic.

That the actors can pull off such Oprah-friendly, sci-fi-inflected sap and keep straight faces is the most fantastic thing about this loopy love story. Granted, they’re in familiar territory – Bana has already played sexy, sensitive and saddled with inconvenient superpowers in ‘Hulk’, while McAdams perfected her achy-breaky bona fides in ‘The Notebook’ – and neither seems genetically capable of giving a dull performance. But they’re only human, and mere mortals can’t salvage a Möbius striptease that’s overly dependent on keeping you slack-jawed by its cleverness. Your tolerance for Hallmark-card sentimentality, meanwhile, will have been tapped dry long before the clock runs out.

Author: David Fear 2009-08-11 09:34:30

Time Out London Issue 2034, 13-19 August, 2009

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User reviews of this film

Paul said...

Posted on Oct 23 2009 21:36 I read the book a year or so back and couldn't put it down, so when I heard that the film had come out I couldn't wait to see it. It follows the book pretty well. Quite simply, the film went immediately into my top 10 filma of all time. I was mesmerized, and was crying uncontrollably by the end! I would suggest reading the book before seeing the film to get an idea of what to expect. Some critics knock it, but I just say hats off to Brad Pitt for a truly memorable, highly emotive, thoroughly thoughtf-provoking film! Go and see it!!!

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Leena said...

Posted on Sep 26 2009 18:24 I have seen this movie in the theaters when it first came out. I was really glad I had gone. I loved it, it was inspirational, and sad. I read the book after I had seen it. The book is really different but it still was really good. I cried when I saw the movie and when I read the book. I gave this five stars. If recommend this to any girl who saw and read the Notebook and love stories like them.

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ella grainger said...

Posted on Sep 11 2009 18:34 this film is crap i hated it it was boring and confusing and really dull to sit through i hated it never wanna see it again

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Annette Williams said...

Posted on Sep 09 2009 17:59 Have not read the book, but, from what people have said its a good read. I found the film boring and so much more could have been done with the story, felt there were too many un answered questions, very dissapointing

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Beccy said...

Posted on Sep 03 2009 17:23 I have not yet seen the film but adore the book. The book is amazing so anyone unimpressed by the film or enjoyed the film should definately enjoy this great read. I'm going to go see it just to see how the story was reccreated; I wish I had not read the reviews as they do not inspire me with confidence; but it sounds as though the tyime out reviewer couldn't even be bothered to read the book before seeing the film, very lazy and poor effort.

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Jamie said...

Posted on Sep 03 2009 15:27 I went with my mum who had read the book and I have not. We both loved it, I was wary of it being over-sentimental and too simplistic about the time travel but I think everything was in perfect measure, well acted, well written and the director executed a perfect mix of tragic love story with sci-fi whilst exploring interesting concepts about identity and memory. The Time Out reviewer sounds to me like a hardened cynic who needs to fall in love

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Jason said...

Posted on Sep 02 2009 16:29 Can we get rid of the spoilers on this page. I won't be seeing the film, but I'm reading the book and now I know bits I didn't wanna know!!!

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Gobinder said...

Posted on Sep 01 2009 10:17 One of the most tedious, boring films I have sat through for a long time. Utterly charmless and so so dull!

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GS said...

Posted on Sep 01 2009 10:15 Thia ia one of the worst films i have seen in a long time. Utterly without charm,rubbish plot and very very boring! Just about managed to sit through the tedium.

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Jade said...

Posted on Aug 28 2009 10:42 This film was dreadful. I expected it to be a lovely, romantic film and i was very disappointed! It was just awful. Too much happens and its bland. Very poor film.

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someone said...

Posted on Aug 27 2009 13:11 Jess - U have kind of ruined the ending for people who have not seen the film yet by revealing that he dies.
It was a really godd film though and i loved it

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Karen said...

Posted on Aug 26 2009 10:49 Loved the film. Any adaptation from book to movie is difficult but this was a seriously good effort. Great casting. Chick flick heaven, ended up crying and I'll definitley buy the DVD.

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caitlin said...

Posted on Aug 24 2009 13:37 yeh hannah i agree wif yuu not just cos am yer sister tho! lol

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Hannah said...

Posted on Aug 24 2009 13:35 I disagree with the Time Out film reviewer. I loved this film and am looking out for the book. I don't think it was at all predictable and there where some things I did not know where going to happen. Obviously if you have read the book you would know what happens as it is based on that and you would expect things but that doesn't mean it is obvious. I think this is a very moving and I actually cried at the end because I found it so moving. People may think I am strange but I don;t care what they say.
I loved this film and would definetely see it again. One of the best I have seen this year

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Matt said...

Posted on Aug 23 2009 20:18 Let me just add, I haven't read the book, but at least one of the girls I was with had, and she loved the film. Purely from watching the movie, it did come across as potentially having some kind of allegorical meaning about revisiting parts of your life, but the time travel is definitely supposed to be real. The way the guy fades out after brief visits to another time kind of suggests that the film/book may be making some comment on the way people revisit meaningful/impactful times of their lives. Whether that comes across in the book is, to me, irrelevant when you're judging a film purely on its own merits.

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