The Time Traveler's Wife Reviews

The interesting thing with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams is that they both broke-through at the same time (2002-2004) and they were both quickly hailed as the next best thing. Eventually, 10 years later, even though they both have some decent careers, I don'think that either of them ever  really full-filled those expectations. This movie is in fact a perfect example. Indeed, it was a very ambitious project which was rather interesting but the end result was nothing amazing and it quickly disappeared at the box-office. As a matter of fact, I have to admit it, it was in fact far from being a bad movie. Indeed, the whole concept was intriguing, the directing was solid and both actors gave some good performances (which was pretty amazing considering how preposterous the premise was) and they had some nice chemistry. The main issue was that, like I mentioned before, the plot was just preposterous and during the whole thing you are confronted with some elements which just didn't hold up. Basically, even before watching this movie, the whole concept really sounded fishy and, at the end, in spite of their effort and the sweetness provided by Bana and McAdams, I was still not convinced at all. Still, even though it was nothing really mind-blowing, thanks to the actors involved, it remains an intriguing romance and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Il mistero dei titoli italiani si infittisce, qualcuno nella stanza dei bottoni è convinto che in Italia al cinema ci vadano soltanto gli appassionati cinepanettari di Vanzina e De Sica (Christian, ovviamente). Non si spiegherebbe altrimenti come il best seller mondiale "La moglie dell'uomo che viaggiava nel tempo" sia diventato un banalissimo "Un amore all'improvviso" (credevo che con "Se mi lasci ti cancello", traduzione raccapriccianti di "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" si fosse toccato il fondo). Detto questo, il film è tutt'altro che la commediola smielata che il titolo suggerirebbe, ma non è nemmeno il capolavoro che gli appassionati di genere potevano attendersi. Un film "leggero", un'occasione mancata. Gli ingredienti per una storia originale, sorprendente, coinvolgente c'erano tutti, ma né la sceneggiatura, né il montaggio riescono a creare il giusto livello di tensione che certe fasi del film avrebbero meritato. Né, del resto, l'interpretazione di Eric Bana contribuisce a rendere indimenticabile un personaggio potenzialmente incredibile: un uomo alla ricerca di una normalità che sfuma ogni volta, come i contorni di un luogo e di un tempo che non riescono a trattenerlo, a causa di un potere incontrollabile e terribile. Alla fine merita la visione, ma purtroppo lascerà il tempo che trova, proprio come il protagonista.

Not as good as the book, of course, but it sure couldn't help but being good since the story is great.

I had absolutely no idea of what to expect going into this film. At first, it seemed like a lovely romantic entertaining story but my expectations were neither high nor low. It was surprisingly depressing and I was caught by the drama within the film which is the only reason why I liked this film. The reason why I found this film rather flawed was because the story was a mess and it couldn't exactly get at what is really going on within the film. I felt lost in the first hour of the film but when the real drama got involved, I started to like it. I have to say that The Time Traveler's Wife is one of weirdest films that I have ever watched. It is definitely one of those films that will capture your imagination. I was totally surprised at how depressing this film turned out to be and I feel that it does make you think about things in life that we all should appreciate.


I don't really like Eric Bana very much as an actor but I thought he was actually really good in this film as Henry. Henry is a man who suffered a heartbreaking tragedy when he was a child: his mother's death and since then he started to travel in time. One thing that I do find weird about Henry is that he doesn't know where or when he is going when he travels back in time. It is like he does it by accident. One thing that Henry cannot do is travel the future past his own life where he is in the present time. Rachel McAdams made a real name for herself in popular yet overrated romantic film The Notebook and her performance as Claire in The Time Traveler's Wife was pretty good as well. It was weird seeing her with brown hair as she was blonde in The Notebook. Rachel McAdams is a good actress to pick to star in a romantic drama because both The Notebook and The Time Traveler's Wife have proved that.


The directing was actually really good which impressed and surprised me a lot. It has an underrated yet unexpectedly powerful message that I think people will think about as far as marriage, having children and making decisions is concerned. The script was good but I have heard that the story falls apart when compared to the novel.


Overall, The Time Traveler's Wife is a beautifully-flawed film that I enjoyed watching but wouldn't watch again. I find it to be The Notebook of 2009 and it could be a bit of a popular film.

If you like the movie, read the book! If you didn't like the movie you should read the book. Movies can never replicate a decent length novel, so the best you can hope for is that it will capture the essence. Having read the book before seeing the movie I knew that would be almost impossible to do. In it's way the book takes and unbelievably complicated plot and gives it to you in the simplest way possible. Shortly after the movie started I actually thought they might pull it off, but it only ends up giving you a taste of the complexity of how a couple deals with the fact that one of them is being thrown around time like a ping-pong ball and the other lives life on the usual time-line format. And at times the movie took short cuts to explain how it all works and I found those parts very contrived. And there were pieces I felt were overly melodramatic and took away from the story. All those critiques aside it was a fairly entertaining movie with excellent chemistry between all the characters.