'Time Traveler': All about the romance

So let's try to get this straight.

In "The Time Traveler's Wife," Eric Bana plays a guy named Henry who jumps around the past, present and future, only he can't control where or when he goes. Supposedly, he also can't control how he gets back where he came from, except for when he tries certain tricks to place himself in a state of mind to time-travel. Even then, there's no way to guarantee which version of Henry will show up: the same one who left, or a younger or older version of himself.

Hunky as he is, he'd be a frustrating guy to fall in love with, or even date. But Rachel McAdams' character, Clare, not only tolerates Henry's inconsistency, she's believed he's her destiny since the first time she saw him as a 6-year-old girl (played by Brooklyn Proulx). The core of "The Time Traveler's Wife" is their struggle to stay together.

Director Robert Schwentke's film, based on the Audrey Niffenegger best-seller, breezes through their relationship, including that Clare and Henry's meet-cute is more like a meet-creepy. He's a thirtysomething who shows up wearing no clothes in the meadow behind her parents' house, asks to borrow her picnic blanket and just starts talking with her.

Maybe it's more plausible in writing - or maybe you just have to be a hopeless romantic to enjoy this complicated conceit.

Bana and McAdams try their best to win us over with earnest performances. Still, we're left wondering afterward, how do these people feel about this extraordinary situation in which they've found themselves? But "The Time Traveler's Wife" doesn't seem interested in looking inside their heads: It's too busy trying to tug at our hearts.

Produced by Dede Gardner, Nick Wechsler, directed by Robert Schwentke, written by Bruice Joel Rubin, Audrey Niffenegger, music by Mychael Danna, distributed by New Line Cinema.