‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ – Love conquers chasms in logic

Tired of the same ol’ formulas powering movie romances?

“The Time Traveler’s Wife” is your salvation. Just be careful what you wish for, since “Wife’s” time-hopping narrative will leave even heady romantics confused.

The film, based on the bestselling book of the same name, takes an aggressively novel approach to the boy-meets-girl template, but only the charm of its twinkling stars makes amends for its logically compromised story.

“Wife” stars Eric Bana as Henry, a man with a unique chromosonal disorder which allows him to travel through time – but never by choice and always without warning.

Somehow, he’s managed to woo an artist named Clare (Rachel McAdams, never lovelier) despite his condition. Seems Henry has been hanging around Clare for years, even when she was a little girl – those chaste get-togethers contain the film’s creepiest moments.

But every time they embrace, settle in before a roaring fire or even prepare for their wedding, he disappears. And it could be minutes, hours or even days before he travels back to her.

Talk about romantic complications.

“The Time Traveler’s Wife” has plenty working against it, from its mumbo jumbo sci-fi core to a narrative that jumps around more often than House of Pain.

It takes time to accept their bond, though having two appealing leads helps audiences make that transition. Bana, who this summer went from a Romulan scourge in “Star Trek” to a Type-A dolt in “Funny People,” shows his softer side here, and it’s his most polished performance of the year.

Even dyed in the wool romantics won’t be able to ignore the film’s time travel rationales or why Clare would hook up with Henry in the first place – besides the fact that he always shows up naked after a time traveling jaunt.

“The Time Traveler’s Wife” clearly works better in novel format, where the complexities inherent in the story can be told in greater detail. But McAdams and Bana will all but force movie goers to accept their most unusual courtship.

(Photo: Rachel McAdams as Clare and Eric Bana as Henry in New Line Cinema’s romantic drama “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Alan Markfield)

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