About Time At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think. Director: Richard Curtis Writer: Richard Curtis Stars: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy Runtime: 123 min Motion Picture Rating (MPAA): Rated R for language and some sexual content. EFX Rating |
In the romantic comedy About Time, Tim, (Domhnall Gleeson), is a member of a happy well-to-do English family who live in a beautiful house by the sea in Cornwell. There’s dad, (Bill Nighy), a retired academic, mum, (Lindsay Duncan) who loves her garden, kid sister Kit Kat, (Lydia Wilson), and eccentric Uncle D, (Richard Cordery). On his 21st birthday Tim learns a secret from his father, that the men in the family are capable of time travel. They can briefly return to an earlier time in their own life but not to change anything dramatically like killing Hitler though. Over the years Tim uses this gift to help his friends and to augment his relationship with the American girl Mary, (Rachel McAdams), that he meets by chance one evening.
The writer and director, Richard Curtis, has a knack for writing feel good romantic comedies like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, and his directorial debut Love Actually was for many people a total delight although his follow up, The Boat That Rocked disappointed. About Time borrows a key plot element from another quite recent Rachel McAdams film, The Time Traveler’s Wife. So you could fault it for the lack of originality of a pretty contrived plot that includes all the usual Richard Curtis stock characters as well as a wedding and a funeral. But it works thanks to a generosity of spirit and to some wonderful performances. Bill Nighy works well as Tim’s father and in a sense the film is as much a love story between a father and son as it is between a man and his partner. Domhnall Gleeson gets better with every film he does and he is excellent here. The minor characters including cameos from Richard E. Grant and the late Richard Griffiths add to the overall experience.
Richard Curtis stated that this is his most personal film and he continues with his apparent fascination with American leading ladies, Andie MacDowell from Four Weddings and a Funeral and Julia Roberts from Notting Hill and now Rachel McAdams. So the pattern continues as does the style of this film. But despite the plot contrivances About Time is a lovely film in many ways, often amusing and ultimately very touching indeed, but definitely a Richard Curtis film.