So, Amy took me to see The Time Traveler's Wife today. I hadn't read the book, but I adore Rachel McAdams (admittedly, more for her bitchy portrayal of Regina in Mean Girls than anything else, but STILL!). It's definitely not a typical Amy movie, though (you know, classic chick flick and all that), so it was a nice surprise. I hadn't been to the movies in the middle of the day in quite a while.
And then I remembered...football season kicks off tonight. Aha! She's just paying up in advance.
But it was a decent movie, nonetheless. Although I didn't much care for the male lead. And I felt like I walked away with a ton of unanswered questions, like why, if his passing this gene onto his own spawn was such a forgone conclusion, wasn't it made clear why or whether his own parents were time travelers. And what was the purpose of his traveling anyway? You know, like in Quantum Leap, righting the wrongs and all that? And if it was just an "affliction," a genetic anomaly, why weren't there others, support groups, research? And although they did hit a high point for me when they just touched on the idea of her fetus traveling out of the womb, they never go into why his daughter finally survives her gestation, or why she's able to control hers, but he had absolutely no control over his whatsoever.
It began to just get...annoying!
And maybe all those answers actually are in the book (although I kinda doubt it), but mostly, besides feeling a little empty, I'm left feeling a little insulted. As if we, as women, are such suckers for sap and mush, that we'll be perfectly fine with a vacuous storyline so long as there's hopeless love and unattainable eternal happiness. I mean, I'm the biggest hopeless romantic there is. I am. But even I can't be swayed by a one-dimensional plot and a pretty face.
2 comments:
Hmmm..good to know..I had been bugging Bean to go see it. I'll save my $ for a better flick.
Delurking to say - I read the book, and I couldn't believe they were even going to attempt to turn it into a movie. It sounds like I was right.
I think that part of the story (in the book, anyway) was that the whole thing was this complete mystery to both of them. And it was a mystery they had to live with their whole lives. No cure, no explanation. And that was part of the power of the story.
Another part of the power of the story is the perspective that's used in the telling; the woman who wrote it must be some sort of genius to have kept that plot clear in her head. But she's also a very gripping writer. And you know how it is; a written passage about emotion and relationship can be turned into a pile of trite mush on the screen if it isn't handled just right.
Anyway, my wife and I both absolutely loved the book, and neither of us has the slightest impulse to go see it on the screen, so maybe you'd enjoy the book. Although maybe the screen version's ruined it for you. I hope not. ;-)
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