About Time

I'm sure there are a lot of people who will view About Time as romantic fluff, which it definitely is.  And thanks to the time travel aspect of the story, even more people will nitpick the logic and plot holes that come from it.  As a critic, it is probably my job to point out such things.  But, you know what?  I got caught up in this romantic fantasy.  Writer-director Richard Curtis (Love Actually) brings dry wit, likable characters and performances, and enough emotion that I was just able to get lost in the story he was telling, and not quibble too much about the details.

Our hero is Tim (Domhnall Gleeson), an awkward and kind of gangly young man who has never had much luck in love, or in talking to women.  When his 21st birthday comes around, he unknowingly gets the chance to change his course in life when his father (Bill Nighy, wonderful as always) sits him down for a talk, and reveals a family secret that he's been hiding from Tim until now.  As it turns out, all the men in Tim's family have the ability to travel back in time, simply by standing in a dark place, clenching their fists, and focusing on a moment in time they wish to revisit.  There are some rules, of course.  Tim can only visit points in time in his own life, so he can't go back and change world history.  He also can't travel forward in time to the future, only backwards.  Tim's dad has used this ability over time to expand his knowledge by reading as many books as he can.  As for Tim, he knows exactly what he will use his time-hopping abilities for - finding true love.

He first tries his luck with the beautiful blonde friend of his sister who stays at his family home for the summer, but quickly learns that no matter what he does to change events in the past, she is just not interested in him.  Eventually, Tim moves out to London to begin a career as a lawyer.  It's there that he has a chance encounter with a beautiful young American woman living in England named Mary (Rachel McAdams).  They hit it off immediately, but then Tim foolishly changes the past when he helps out his playwright roommate by going back in time to prevent a career-ending performance.  By helping the roommate, he has altered the past so much that the encounter with Mary never happened.  Tim does eventually track Mary down again, and must now prevent her from meeting and falling in love with someone else. (Another consequence of changing the past.) Once that is taken care of and Mary is with him, Tim can finally start building a happy life with her.  As their life together unfolds into romance, marriage, and eventually a family, Tim will learn that there are some inevitable moments and even tragedies that even time travel cannot erase or change.

About Time could have easily been a fairly standard romantic comedy with a time travel gimmick, but fortunately Curtis' screenplay goes a little bit deeper than that.  Although the relationship between Tim and Mary plays a key role, an even bigger relationship eventually reveals itself during the course of the film, and that is the one between Tim and his father.  Tim also uses his abilities not just to help himself, but also to save his sister from making some poor choices in her life.  It's this family aspect that creates some of the film's more touching moments, and really helped to win me over in the end.  I also like how the movie puts some limits on Tim's ability, which helps create some tension and drama in certain moments.  Are there some logic holes created by the time travel plot device?  Unfortunately yes, some of which seem to go against what we've been told about his abilities earlier in the film.  But, for the most part, the time travel is handled well, and doesn't get in the way of the story that Curtis is trying to tell.

The film also has a wonderful leading man in Domhnall Gleeson, an actor who has previously been well known for having a small role in the Harry Potter films until now.  Not only does he have great romantic chemistry with Rachel McAdams, but he is able to wonderfully portray the different stages of his character's growth - from an awkward young man who lacks confidence, to a mature adult and family man.  He also is able to handle just about anything the script throws at him, from being charming and funny, to the more serious and tear-jerking moments that come later on.  He is a big part of what holds the film together.  For all of its talk of time travel and fantasy elements, he grounds the material with his relatable and warm performance.  I can only hope that this will lead to other major roles, as he certainly has the talent and the screen presence.

Fortunately, he's not the only performance worth mentioning.  This is a well-cast movie with actors who not only make their characters extremely likable, but also help carry the material over some rough patches, such as when the characters start spouting exposition about time travel that sometimes does not make much sense.  Rachel McAdams has never been so charming as here, playing a dreamer who falls for Tim, not because she is looking for a man exactly, but because they are right together.  And Bill Nighy brings his usual wit and dramatic skill in the role of Tim's father.  He not only gets some of the film's biggest laughs, but he is equally effective in breaking our hearts when the need is required later on.  Basically, everyone who appears on the screen here is charming in one way or another, and creates a sense of ease and comfort that is easy to fall under and just enjoy.

It's been said that About Time will be the final directing effort from Curtis, who wants to stick to writing in the future.  If so, he ends his directing career with an extremely charming little film.  As a romantic comedy, it's not quite as good as Enough Said from a couple months ago, but it's a more than worthy effort.  Should he ever choose to get behind the camera again, I would welcome it.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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