The Time Traveler's Wife

THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE (2009) - Sept. 27, 2009
Though not nearly as good as the book it is adapted from, this was an enjoyable and well made film about the romance between a man who periodically and uncontrolably time travels, and the woman who has known him since she was a child. The film sort of feels like a really simplified version of the book, which I guess was probably necessary given how dense the novel was -- it's a shame to lose the intricate nature of the book, where a lot of the time travel stuff was woven in in a really ingenious way, but for what it was the film pretty much succeeds. Certainly, both Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams gave stellar performances, which went a long way towards making up for some of the film's deficiencies. The movie's chick-flickiness felt more overt towards as it went along, and my attention did wane slightly towards the end, but for the most part this was a decent enough adaptation, if not at all on the same level as the novel (but I have to say, jeers to the filmmakers for replacing the book's melancholy, pitch-perfect ending with something a bit more upbeat and generic). ***