The Time Traveler's Wife Review

A couple of days ago, I had the pleasure/displeasure of seeing The Time Traveler's Wife, a movie starring Eric Bana as Henry the Time Traveler and Rachel McAdams as Clare the Wife, based upon the book by Audrey Niffenegger(yes, that's really her name). Just walking into the theater gave you a feeling about what this movie was going to be like. The place was crowded with dates and mothers and daughters (or, in my case grandmothers and granddaughters). And all of a sudden I knew I was walking into a sap story.

The movie itself isn't really that bad, and the story was relatively strong....but the script just kept slipping. I didn't really care about Henry and Clare until the very end of the movie, where, SHOCKER, something goes wrong.

The movie starts off focused on Henry and his time traveling ways, the first time he traveled, some of the rules of traveling. One thing that is not explained however, is why Eric Bana's wig is so bad. It was so bad I wanted to reach through the screen and rip it off his head. It made my head itch just looking at it, but I think you get my point. Eventually he meets Clare, who he has apparently met before when he was older, but he didn't know it when he meets her in the future/past. It was moments like this in the movie where it started to make no sense. My grandmother had to turn to me several times during the movie and ask what was going on, and when I attempted to explain it, it really made no sense.

There were other moments like this, where Henry would just abruptly travel and leave Clare behind for long amounts of time and you would just feel so depressed and sometimes even slightly bored. Other things in the movie just go completely unexplained. For instance, it doesn't explain why in one scene we see Henry beating the crap out of some guy while he's wearing what appears to be denim short shorts and a pink t-shirt with lace trim and screaming "GODDAMN HOMOPHOBES!"
Towards the end of the movie, you begin to feel that ominous feeling that things are starting to go downhill, when the vibe in the room begins to change. And when Henry finds out he's going to die when his daughter turns 5, I heard the woman next to me whisper, "Oh shit..."

And then when that big, horrible moment does come, all around me I heard sobs and gasps and even my grandmother was bawling her eyes out.

What the movie really comes down to is a sweet, sappy love story that at times doesn't really make sense.
I would wait to rent it.
6.5/10