The Time Traveler's Wife (12A)

Film

Romance

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Time Out rating:

<strong>Rating: </strong>2/5

User ratings:

<strong>Rating: </strong>3/5
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Time Out says

Tue Aug 11 2009

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.
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Release details

Rated:

12A

UK release:

Fri Aug 14 2009

Duration:

107 mins

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Comments & ratings

Rated as: 3/5 (21 ratings)
  • Read the book. It's a pretty intelligent and thought provoking exploration of love, ageing and loss. his utter crap, on the other hand, totally misses the point of the novel, transforming it into the most idiotic, plot driven pile of Mills and Boon cack I've seen since the laughable bullshit of Billy Elliott. The start is not what the author intended. The ending certainly isn't what the author intended. The script is utterly moronic, the acting is appalling even given the dialogue they have to cope with, and the whole thing is glossed over with music and photography calculated to have every tragic cat lady in the dumbest parts of America salivating into her TV dinner. Everyone involved in this should be ashamed.

    ZodKneelsFirst Mon Feb 6 2012
    Rated as: 1/5
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  • Perhaps it is about the place/space you are in when you see a movie. Contrary to the reviewers opinion I really enjoyed this movie. Fantasy can take you places and connect you with your current experience. Cheers and thanks for the forum.

    wvanm Sat Feb 13 2010
    Rated as: 4/5
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  • Perhaps it is about the place/space you are in when you see a movie. Contrary to the reviewers opinion I really enjoyed this movie. Fantasy can take you places and connect you with your current experience. Cheers and thanks for the forum.

    wvanm Sat Feb 13 2010
    Rated as: 4/5
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  • 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!!!

    Paul Fri Oct 23 2009
    Rated as: 5/5
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  • 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.

    Leena Sat Sep 26 2009
    Rated as: 5/5
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  • 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

    ella grainger Fri Sep 11 2009
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  • 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

    Annette Williams Wed Sep 9 2009
    Rated as: 1/5
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  • 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.

    Beccy Thu Sep 3 2009
    Rated as: 5/5
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  • 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

    Jamie Thu Sep 3 2009
    Rated as: 4/5
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  • 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!!!

    Jason Wed Sep 2 2009
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