This adaption of Audrey Niffenegger's best-selling novel The Time Traveller's Wife attempts to paint a dark picture of a tragic love, but flat storytelling means there is no lingering emotion.
The story centres on the love between the time traveller, Henry (Eric Bana), and his artist wife Clare (Rachel McAdams). Henry has a disorder that causes him to disappear without warning and travel through time and space.
On one journey, a middle-aged Henry meets a six-year-old Clare and tells her they are destined to be together. Like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Time Traveller's Wife explores what could occur if time could be twisted.
Unfortunately, the story that sold millions in book form is relayed in a rather predicable way. It seems as if the filmmakers show Henry time-travelling just for the sake of it - the frequent trips don't help to develop the plot.
There were more opportunities for the filmmakers to look into Niffenegger's distressing view of human nature and increase the emotions. But the tension is diluted because the tragic romance is often balanced with humour.
The film is directed by Robert Schwentke, who helmed the far grittier Flightplan, and adapted by Bruce Joel Rubin, who wrote the screenplay for mushy movie Ghost, which could explain this movie's lack of backbone.