About Time
Director: Richard Curtis
Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Lydia Wilson, Richard Cordery, Joshua McGuire, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie, Will Merrick
Rating: (M)
3 stars (out of 5)
Rachel McAdams, after starring in The Time Traveller's Wife as a time traveller's wife, plays the same role in About Time (Rialto).
However, while About Time starts out as a how-great-would-it-be-if-you-could-time-travel film, it becomes less and less about time travel.
Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) learns from his father (Bill Nighy) that the men in his family have the ability to time travel: his grandfather used it to make money and died unhappy; his great-uncle used it to duck out of working and ended up never doing anything; and his father used it to read more books than is possible in one lifetime.
Tim decides to use his new found ability to find true love.
The first part (Tim finds Mary [McAdams] loses her and regains her using time travel) is your standard romantic comedy.
Writer/director Richard Curtis turns out this sort of thing in his sleep, but here he wants to dig a little deeper so we hang around as Tim learns how to use time travel to live a good life.
And because how a man who can time travel lives a good life is no good to the rest of us who cannot time travel, Tim's lessons lead him towards something perhaps we can all emulate.
Unfortunately, About Time only works if you stay on the shallow side of things. Once you start to think about it, the limitations of Curtis' musings quickly become clear.
Best thing: It is always a good thing when Bill Nighy turns up in a cast list.
Worst thing: This is an enjoyable film but it could have been much stronger if they had dialed back on the voiceover. Being told how you are supposed to feel gets on your nerves after a while.
See it with: Someone you care about.
