Like the book, the movie gets weaker as it becomes more convoluted and far-fetched in the last third of the story.
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08/13/09
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The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
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Reviews Counted:148
Fresh:56
Rotten:92
Average Rating:5.1/10
Consensus: Though it may satisfy fans of the novel, The Time Traveler's Wife's plot contrivances and illogical narrative hamper its big screen effectiveness.
Theatrical Release:Aug 14, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $63,387,284
Synopsis: Based on the best-selling book about a love that transcends time. Clare has been in love with Henry her entire life. She believes they are destined to be together, even though she never knows... [More]
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Eric Bana, Ron Livingston, Arliss Howard
Director: Robert Schwentke
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Reviews for The Time Traveler's Wife
McAdams and Bana are enticing as a couple whose domestic problems are distinctly original.
08/13/09
A movie for people who aren't really that into time travel.
08/13/09
Is The Time Traveler's Wife terrible? Not really. Striving for meaning as it revolves around the process of life, the film remains perilously thin and unenlightening.
08/13/09
The Time Traveler’s Wife is told with a tenderness that’s unusual in a major motion picture but that leads mostly to dullness.
08/13/09
This sappy romantic fantasy proves that a movie doesn't have to be a CGI extravaganza based on a video game, comic book or toy line to be inordinately dumb.
08/13/09
contrived plot coincidences and the dead air between the film's photogenic leads keep getting in the way
08/13/09
It might be a solid hook if we thought their love was grand. Instead, it's kind of creepy.
08/13/09
The book is richer, but this is a solid, endearing telling of the same essential story, and is well worth the price of admission for those who appreciate romantic fantasy.
08/13/09
Top CriticWhat excuse does the film have for telling its affecting, relatable story with such little regard for establishing character or letting a moment play itself out?
08/13/09
If you allow yourself to think for one moment of the paradoxes, contradictions and logical difficulties involved, you will be lost. The movie supports no objective thought.
08/13/09
Top CriticThat it's also shamelessly tear-jerking in that warm, enveloping way that Hollywood can do so well from time to time is a plus, not a minus.
08/13/09
To swoon over the lovely Rachel McAdams or hunky Eric Bana is easy, but doing so during The Time Traveler's Wife requires willful blindness to the sloppy nonsensicality of their across-the-years love story.
08/12/09
The Time Traveler's Wife is built as a game that the audience learns to play, and after a while, yes, we do get the hang of it.
08/12/09
Top CriticThat 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.
08/12/09
I can only imagine that the scenes of a 40-something man getting chummy with his 6-year-old bride-to-be must have played better in the book. On film, it feels like To Catch a Time-Traveling Predator.
08/12/09
The Time Traveler's Wife stars Eric Bana as Henry DeTamble, a Chicago man suffering from "chrono-impairment disorder" -- that is, a genetic anomaly that causes him to involuntarily time travel. The defective gene doesn't prevent Henry from meeting
08/12/09
It's beautifully crafted and endearingly old-fashioned all the way; an alluring soap opera for those who like to dive into the deep end of the syrup pool.
08/12/09
An elegy to love, fate, loss and free will, The Time Traveler's Wife is to science fiction what Twilight is to vampire tales -- a femme-centric exploration of relationships wrapped in genre fiction.
08/12/09
Maybe the novel by Audrey Niffenegger, which a number of people seem to have read and enjoyed, was more convincing, but the unsatisfactory, yo-yo script by Bruce Joel Rubin, makes no real effort to explore the inner emotions of the characters.
08/12/09
Top CriticLatest News for The Time Traveler's Wife
August 13, 2009:
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August 13, 2009:
Box Office Guru Preview: District 9 Invades Over Crowded Frame
With summer almost out of gas, studios toss five more contenders into the ring in hopes of catching moviegoers that just haven't had their share of multiplex entertainment yet.... More...
July 29, 2009:
Robert Schwentke Sees Red 
"The Time Traveler's Wife" director Robert Schwentke is in talks to direct "Red," the adaptation of the WildStorm/DC graphic novel starring Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman. More...
June 15, 2009:
Trailer Bulletin: The Time Traveler's Wife
After a lengthy delay, the Eric Bana/Rachel McAdams-led adaptation of "The Time Traveler's Wife" is due to arrive in theaters on August 14 -- and now, thanks to Yahoo! Movies,... More...
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