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Henry has a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel. He cannot control where he goes or when he comes back. Clare Abshire has known Henry since she was six years old and he was an adult; he time traveled into her past because in the present they are married. Clare fell in love with Henry as a result of his time traveling, and yet it is the time traveling that keeps them from being together.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is a confusing concept, but a beautiful romance at heart with an incredibly unique take on time travel. While the film is a lot softer and definitely can’t cover as much as the book I still found it to be touching and a very human story.

The biggest strength of The Time Traveler’s Wife is definitely its leads. Without the strength and talent of Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams the film would fall flat. This film has to cram an incredibly complex and truncated story into such a small period of time that there is no way Robert Schwentke could have made this movie with leads that could so easily pull the audience in to empathize and care for them. McAdams and Bana have a great chemistry together and were incredibly believable as two people incredibly in love with one another.

That being said I was not thrilled with the direction that Robert Schwentke provided. While the film was not badly directed this is a film that could have been played with, stylized and been stamped with more than just the typical breezy direction that a romance movie typically gets. There was nothing about the direction of The Time Traveler’s Wife that stood out and made me want to see more of Schwentke.

I would not buy The Time Traveler’s Wife as I am not a sucker for romantic movies, but I do think that it is going to hit a core audience (especially women) who adore a good romance and definitely be remembered.

Director: Robert Schwentke
Writer: Bruce Joel Rubin
Richard DeTamble: Arliss Howard
Henry DeTamble: Eric Bana
Clare Abshire: Rachel McAdams
Gomez: Ron Livingston
Dr. Kendrick: Stephen Tobolowsky
Alba: Hailey McCann

Danny was born blind, something that’s never slowed him down – he doesn’t even use his cane. But like any blind person Danny has had to deal with the pity and annoying prejudices of strangers and his loved ones. Upon entering law school the fact that he has never been in a relationship finally wears on Danny and he decides he’s like to be like everyone else at least in that way and lets his brother set him up on a series of blind dates. However, while this is going on Danny also agrees to take part in a surgical procedure that may restore his sight; at the office of the doctor he meets Leeza, a young Indian woman and the two develop a relationship without Danny knowing that Leeza is currently trapped in the process of an arranged marriage.

While kind of cute in concept, Blind Dating is the classic case of a film that tries to do too much and therefore fails at everything. Parts of this film were down right laughable and the mood changes and plot points were heavy handed, and amateurish. The single most laughable section of the film was Danny’s surgery and aftermath. Honestly, the film would have worked better as a straight romance and Leeza and Danny could have met at a doctor’s office without the necessity of the sight restoring surgery.

One of the directorial problems with Blind Dating was that it looked and felt like a Hallmark or made for TV movie. The pacing was too slow, the tone was just too bright at times and the visuals lacked character. Low and behold I later discovered that director James Keach is a television director that got his start in TV movies.

Call me biased but the one great thing about Blind Dating was Chris Pine. This guy has got some genuine talent to him, and the best, most entertaining parts of Blind Dating are when he is focused on the most. He manages to breathe some life into this otherwise lifeless character and make him not just an attractive guy but a genuinely likable character that has some emotional depth to him if not actual depth in the character.

This is definitely a film for those that want to see Chris Pine be charming for two hours, but really not worth much else.

Director: James Keach
Writer: Christopher Theo
Danny: Chris Pine
Dr, Evans: Jane Seymour
Larry: Eddie Kaye Thomas
Leeza: Anjali Jay
Dr. Perkins: Stephen Tobolowsky