Adapted from Audrey Niffenegger's novel, this sci-fi romance drama plays so loose with the parameters it lays out for Eric Bana's uncontrollable time-traveling in the role of Henry DeTamble that it's like watching half a movie twice.
Henry suffers from a bizarre genetic condition that causes him to disappear for years at a time. His true love Clare (Rachel McAdams) waits patiently for him, working away as an artist in Chicago.
All we know about Henry's vanishing act is that he always arrives at his new time and place destination naked, and is thus prone to committing desperate acts of theft.
Somehow, Henry begins showing up around Clare long enough to get married and provide a house for them to live in through a stroke of time-traveling manipulation.
McAdams and Bana are easy enough on the eyes to distract from the script's Grand Canyon-sized plot holes, but not enough to keep your mind off the insipid storytelling.
Even from its gooey sentimental standpoint, "The Time Traveler's Wife" is two pints short of a gallon.
(Warner Brothers) Rated PG-13. 107 mins.
