Review of About Time (2013) by Stuart K — 27 Apr 2014

Written and directed by Richard Curtis, who suffered a massive flop with the 1960's jukebox romp The Boat That Rocked (2009), returns to safe territory with his latest film. Although while it is a romantic comedy, it's one with a bit of sci-fi thrown into the mix, but it's one of a few films which manages to do sci-fi without using any CGI, and that makes this a bit of a rare beast.

Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) has just turned 21, and he's been told by his dad (Bill Nighy) that the men in his family have the ability to travel through time. Something Tim can't believe, until he tries it and he discovers what he can do.

He moves from the family home in Cornwall to London. When he meets American Mary (Rachel McAdams), Tim believes he's found the love of his life, and he's not going to let her go, but life gets in the way, but he's able to use his time travelling abilities to put it right, but it doesn't always go to plan, and he ends up altering the course of his life, something Tim has to end up fixing again and again.

It's a very British sort of time travel film, but it's a very personal film for Curtis, a romantic at heart, and a man with an impeccable taste in music as well. Gleeson puts in a brilliant performance, while McAdams has become a natural at doing time travel films after The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) and Midnight in Paris (2011).