Editorial
Front Page - Friday, September 11, 2009
The Critic's Corner
David Laprad
Henry has a serious problem with public nudity. But he can’t help appearing in front of complete strangers without any clothes on. It’s a part of who he is.
See, Henry has a rare genetic anomaly that causes him to travel through time. And when he does, he drops everything, including his pants.
The fact that I spent most of my time watching “The Time Traveler’s Wife” thinking about the difficulties this would cause, many of which the movie ignores, says something about its ability to hold my attention.
“The Time Traveler’s Wife” does its best to encourage viewers to suspend their disbelief, however, by establishing a set of rules. For example, Henry can’t control when he travels through time or where along his lifeline he appears.
This causes an endless array of complications. When he marries Claire, for example, he disappears right before the ceremony, then a much older version of himself appears in time to take his vows, then his present self shows up for their first dance. You can imagine how disappointed Claire would have been had a 5-year-old Henry appeared for their honeymoon.
There is a sweet love story at the center of “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” The adult Henry actually meets Claire when she’s a young girl, returning time and again to a meadow where she plays. Henry tells her when he travels, he seems to be drawn toward major events, like they’re a kind of gravity.
When his present self meets her, he doesn’t know who she is, but she’s already in love with him. They eventually marry, try to make things work and have more than their share of sorrows as a result. But their love for each other remains.
I wanted to like “The Time Traveler’s Wife” more than I did. There’s a magical scene in which the camera sweeps through Henry and Claire’s house and we catch glimpses of them and the people they love at different times. And there’s a fun scene in which Henry figures out how to win the lottery.
But there’s an odd lack of romatic energy between Eric Bana, who plays Henry, and Rachel McAdams, who plays Claire. Their performances are fine, but together, they fail to ignite a spark. Worse, the ending breaks one of the time travel rules in a desperate attempt to elevate an otherwise depressing finale.
If you can overlook these things, there are pleasures to be had and tears to shed while watching “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” Just wait for the DVD.
•••
Many of us have been where Ryden Malby is at the beginning of “Post Grad.” Having mapped out our future with the kind of foresight usually only afforded Old Testament prophets, we accepted our diploma, tossed our hat in the air and started down the path toward self-fulfillment.
And then, like Ryden, we ran smack dab into the cold stone wall of reality.
When Ryden recovers, she lands safely at home, although given how eccentric her family is, you’ll initially wonder if she wouldn’t have been better off going back to school. Then she sets out to gain a foothold in an indifferent world. I liked the scene where she walks down a busy Sacramento street, a face in a crowd and dozens of buildings packed with offices and cubicles towering over her.
Since “Post Grad” is a lighthearted comedy, we know Ryden can find her niche in this rat maze. But at the core of the movie is a better idea than the one about finding your place in the world: it’s not what you spend your life doing that’s important, but who you’re with when you’re doing it.
To that end, Ryden has a choice to make. Will she go for Zach, who has loved her for years and remained her best friend, even as she continually rejected his advances, or the handsome infomercial director who moves in next door?
Gee, I don’t know. What do you think?
“Post Grad” is a pleasant, relatively inoffensive movie about some of the most important decisions we make. Director Vicky Jenson and writer Kelly Fremon only stumble when they take their eyes off Ryden and focus on her dim-witted father, played by Michael Keaton. He tries to be funny as he’s threatening to beat up a door-to-door salesman who’s accused him of stealing, but I just wanted to look away.
Everything else is golden, though, including Alexis Bledel’s performance as Ryden. While she seems to be playing an extension of her character on “Gilmore Girls” (the sober but sweet Rory), she hits all the right notes at all the right times. And at the center of it all is a positive message about the importance of family and finding the right person with whom to share your life. Like “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” however, I recommend waiting for the DVD.
E-mail David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.
com.
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